Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2012 Apr 30;53(4):2424-30.
doi: 10.1167/iovs.11-8436.

The effect of glaucoma on the optical attenuation coefficient of the retinal nerve fiber layer in spectral domain optical coherence tomography images

Josine van der Schoot  1 , Koenraad A Vermeer, Johannes F de Boer, Hans G Lemij
Affiliations

The effect of glaucoma on the optical attenuation coefficient of the retinal nerve fiber layer in spectral domain optical coherence tomography images

Josine van der Schoot et al. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. .

Abstract

Purpose: To demonstrate the effect of glaucoma on the optical attenuation coefficient of the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) in Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography (SD-OCT) images.

Methods: We analyzed images of the peripapillary areas in 10 healthy and 30 glaucomatous eyes (mild, moderate, and advanced glaucoma, 10 eyes each), scanned with the Spectralis OCT (Heidelberg Engineering GmbH, Dossenheim, Germany). To calculate the RNFL attenuation coefficient (μ(att)), determined by the scattering properties of the RNFL, we used a model that normalized the reflectivity of the RNFL by the retinal pigment epithelium. The analysis was performed at four preset locations at 1.3 and 1.7 mm from the center of the optic nerve head (ONH) (i.e., temporally, superiorly, nasally, and inferiorly) and on averages per eye. To assess the structure-function relationship, we correlated the μ(att) to the mean deviation (MD) in standard automated perimetry.

Results: The μ(att) of the RNFL decreased up to 40% with increasing disease severity, on average as well as in each location around the ONH (Jonckheere-Terpstra test, P < 0.019 in all tests). The μ(att) of the RNFL depended significantly on the location around the ONH in all eyes (Kruskal-Wallis test, P < 0.014) and was lowest nasally from the ONH. The μ(att) correlated significantly with the MD in SAP (R(2) = 0.337).

Conclusions: The measurements clearly demonstrated that the μ(att) of the RNFL decreased with increasing disease severity. The RNFL attenuation coefficient may serve as a new method to quantify glaucoma in SD-OCT images.

PubMed Disclaimer