Measurement of thickness of retinal nerve fiber layer by scanning laser polarimetry and high-pass resolution perimetry in patients with primary open-angle or normal-tension glaucoma.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the correlation between neural capacity, determined by high-pass resolution perimetry, and thickness of the retinal nerve fiber layer, evaluated by scanning laser polarimetry, in patients with primary open-angle glaucoma or normal-tension glaucoma.

METHODS

Thickness of the peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer was measured by scanning laser polarimetry in 19 eyes of 19 patients with primary open-angle glaucoma and in 23 eyes of 23 patients with normal-tension glaucoma. There were no significant differences between the two groups in mean age, sex ratio, or mean neural capacity.

RESULTS

Neural capacity was significantly correlated with thickness of the retinal nerve fiber layer in all 42 eyes (r = 0.31, P = 0.0429). Neural capacity was significantly correlated with thickness of the retinal nerve fiber layer in the eyes of patients with primary open-angle glaucoma (r = 0.60, P = 0.0061), but not in the eyes of patients with normal-tension glaucoma (r = 0.04; P = 0.8522).

CONCLUSION

The degree of correlation between neural capacity determined by high-pass resolution perimetry and thickness of the retinal nerve fiber layer measured by scanning laser polarimetry appeared to differ in patients with primary open-angle glaucoma vs those with normal-tension glaucoma.