Diagnostic Performance of Macular Versus Peripapillary Vessel Parameters by Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography for Glaucoma

Abstract

PURPOSE: To compare the diagnostic ability of the vessel parameters in macular and peripapillary regions measured using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography angiography (SD-OCTA) in differentiating primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) from healthy eyes. METHODS: POAG patients and healthy subjects underwent 6 × 6-mm scans centered on the macula and optic nerve head. Commercially available automatic segmentation created en face images from SD-OCTA of the superficial retinal layer (SRL) of the macular (m) and peripapillary (cp) regions. Vessel area density (VAD), vessel skeleton density (VSD), vessel complexity index (VCI), and flux were calculated. Area under curve (AUC) statistics controlled for age and intereye correlation. RESULTS: = 0.0091). CONCLUSIONS: Peripapillary perfusion parameters performed better than macular perfusion parameters for glaucoma diagnosis, supporting the idea that glaucomatous superficial retinal vascular changes are more pronounced in the peripapillary region. TRANSLATIONAL RELEVANCE: The diagnostic accuracy of OCTA perfusion parameters of the superficial retinal microcirculation was greater for the peripapillary region than the macular region in the diagnosis of glaucoma.