Purpose: To evaluate and compare the glaucoma discrimination ability of macula, macular ganglion cell complex (mGCC), and peripapillary nerve fiber layer (ppNFL) thickness in Chinese patients using Fourier-domain optical coherence tomography (FD-OCT).
Methods: A total of 64 normal subjects (N), 47 glaucoma suspects (GS), and 48 glaucoma patients (G) were enrolled in the study. The thickness of mGCC, ppNFL, and total macula were measured using RTVue-100 FD-OCT (software version: 4.0.7.5; Optovue). The GCC and ONH protocols were used for obtaining images in all subjects. For each binocular subject, one eye was chosen randomly for analysis.
Results: The average thicknesses of macular, mGCC, and ppNFL in normal eyes were significantly different from those in GS or G eyes (p<0.001). The mGCC thickness correlated well with ppNFL thickness (correlation coefficients for N, GS, and G eyes are 0.397 [p=0.001], 0.822 [p<0.0001], and 0.865 [p<0.0001]). Areas under receiver operating characteristic curve of macular, mGCC, and ppNFL thickness are 0.940 (p<0.0001), 0.998 (p<0.0001), and 0.977 (p<0.0001), discriminating G from N eyes. There was no significant difference comparing the discriminating powers of NFL, GCC, and macular thickness.
Conclusions: The mGCC measurements provide another measurement of neural loss in glaucoma, and may serve as a promising parameter for ppNFL thickness in the clinical assessment of glaucoma. For glaucomatous eyes, mGCC and ppNFL thicknesses performed better discriminating abilities compared with macular thickness.