[Investigation of the correlation between the right-left differences of visual field defects and the right-left differences of ocular anatomical factors in patients with normal-tension glaucoma].

PURPOSE: To investigate the effects of optic disc area to visual field (VF) defects of normal-tension glaucoma (NTG), the correlation between the right-left differences of VF defects and those of diurnal variations of intraocular pressure and the ocular anatomical factors were evaluated in patients with NTG.

METHODS

One hundred eighteen eyes of 59 NTG patients with the right-left difference value of mean deviation (MD) of between 2 dB and 12 dB obtained with Humphrey field analyzer program 30-2 were enrolled in the study. The correlation between the right-left differences of MD values and those of refraction, axial length, central cornea thickness, diurnal variation of intraocular pressure, and disc area measured with Heidelberg Retina Tomograph were evaluated by multiple regression analysis.

RESULTS

The multiple correlation coefficient was 0.520, and the coefficient of determination was 0.271. The right-left differences of axial length (p = 0.041) and disc area(p = 0.002) were judged to be the statistically significant factors correlated with those of VF defects.

CONCLUSIONS

These results suggest that the right-left differences of axial length and disc area are associated with the right-left differences of VF defects in patients with NTG.