부산대학교 도서관

Purpose To analyse a prognostic value of initial retinal vessel flicker response for the 3-year development of functional (visual field) and morphological (nerve fibre layer thickness) damage progression in primary open-angle glaucoma patients. Patients and methods Initially, 70 patients were recruited, and flicker response was measured by standardized procedure with the retinal vessel analyser ( RVA). Ocular coherence tomography of retinal nerve fibre layer ( OCT RNFL) and a visual field testing were performed at beginning and every 6 months for 3 years; 56 patients completed the study. Results No correlation was found between the progression of visual field ( VF) mean defect and retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) thinning over 3 years on one and the maximal flicker reaction in arteries and veins on the other side (all p > 0.1). However, the calculated difference of examined parameters in the superior versus inferior retinal halves correlated significantly between the RNFL thinning and the initial maximal flicker response for arteries (p = 0.01) and veins (p = 0.003). Conclusion This longitudinal study did not find a general correlation between initial retinal vessel response to flicker light and the glaucoma damage progression measured by OCT and VF, hence limiting the relevance of the RVA device as a predictor of future glaucomatous damage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]