STUDY OF CORRELATION OF OPTIC DISC CHANGES WITH VISUAL FIELD CHANGES AND RETINAL NERVE FIBER LAYER THICKNESS IN PRIMARY OPEN ANGLE GLAUCOMA

Aim:To correlate the optic disc changes with visual field defects and with retinal nerve fiber layer thickness in patients diagnosed with primary open angle glaucoma for their accurate diagnosis and management.

Materials and Methods:This was a hospital based cross sectional study done on 100 eyes of 50 patients diagnosed with POAG who presented to Department of Ophthalmology from January 2021 to January 2022. A thorough clinical history and a complete ophthalmic examination including a detailed fundus examination was done. 24-2 SITA standard strategy Visual field recording was done on Humphrey visual field Analyzer.RNFL thickness is measured using Cirrus HD SD-OCT.

Results: There is statistically significant correlation of rim area with mean deviation(r=0.471), pattern standard deviation(r=-0.226), visual field index (r=0.486) and with RNFL thickness (r=0.476). Significant correlation is seen in vertical cup/disc ratio with mean deviation (r=-0.555), pattern standard deviation(r=0.207), visual field index(r=-0.559) and RNFL thickness (r=-0.511).

Conclusion: There is significant correlation of optic disc changes with visual field changes and also with RNFL thinning in POAG. Hence, in suspected cases of POAG both visual field testing as well as RNFL analysis must be undertaken for early and accurate diagnosis.