Skip to main content

  • OCT angiography of the macula shows limited use in diagnosing glaucoma

    Glaucoma

    Add to My Bookmarks

    This cross-sectional study compares the use of standard OCT with OCT angiography (OCT-A) for evaluating patients with glaucoma.

    Study design

    Investigators included 115 glaucoma patients and 35 healthy controls; all participants were of Chinese descent. They compared the predictive value of 2 measurements: inner macular thickness measured by standard OCT and inner macular vessel densities measured by OCT-A.

    Outcomes

    Overall, standard inner macular thickness outperformed inner macular vessel density in discerning glaucoma within this patient population. At 90% specificity, the sensitivity to discriminate glaucomatous eyes from healthy eyes was 81% for inner macular thickness and 60% for inner macular vessel density.

    Limitations

    A large percentage of participants were excluded due to poor image quality on OCT-A. The study only imaged the macula; other regions may have produced different results.

    Clinical significance

    These findings suggest that macular OCT measurements currently have greater clinical utility than OCT-A measurements for detecting glaucoma.