Color-fluorescein relationship in glaucomatous optic nerve damage.

With the assistance of a computerized image analysis system, the author obtained a quantitative evaluation of the color of the optic disc (%R) and the fluorescein intensity (%F) in glaucomatous eyes. Patients in various stages of glaucoma were studied, including 23 patients with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) (23 eyes), 22 patients with normal-tension glaucoma (NTG) (22 eyes), along with 11 normal controls (11 eyes). In both the POAG and NTG groups, %R was lower in eyes with more marked visual field defects. The correlation coefficient between %R and the stage of visual field defect was 0.794 (P < 0.001) in the POAG group and 0.652 (P < 0.001) in the NTG group. Fluorescein intensity also was lower in eyes with more marked visual field defects in both groups. The correlation coefficient between %F and the stage of visual field defect was 0.897 (P < 0.001) in the POAG group and 0.681 (P < 0.001) in the NTG group. In early-stage patients in both glaucoma groups, %R was significantly lower than that in the control group (P < 0.05). However, there was no significant difference in %R between the NTG and POAG groups. In these patients, %F was also lower than that in the control group (P = 0.001), and was significantly lower in the NTG group than in the POAG group (P = 0.01). In addition, the pattern of correlation differed between the two groups. This difference in the pattern of the optic disk color-fluorescein correlation suggests that pathological backgrounds in the development of glaucomatous optic disc damage are also different between POAG and NTG.