Purpose. To evaluate whether the optic disc size and shape are
associated with eventual progression of glaucomatous visual field loss in a
clinical observational prospective study.
Participants. The study included 357 eyes of 253 Caucasian patients with
chronic open-angle glaucoma who were prospectively evaluated. All patients had
at least three examinations. The whole study group was differentiated into
patients with preperimetric glaucoma (n=148 eyes), and patients with chronic
open-angle glaucoma with glaucomatous visual field defects (n=209 eyes). All
patients underwent repeated evaluation of color stereo optic disc photographs
and white-on-white perimetry. Progression of glaucoma was defined by an
increase in the mean visual field defect or an increase in the corrected loss
variance value in two consecutive examinations, compared to the values obtained
at baseline of the study.
Results. Out of the 357
eyes, 243 eyes remained stable and 114 eyes showed progression of glaucomatous
visual field loss. At baseline of the study, the group of eyes with eventual
progression and the group of eyes without progression did not vary
significantly (P>0.10) in size of the optic disc and shape of the optic disc
as measured by the ratio of horizontal to vertical disc diameter, and by the
ratio of minimal to maximal disc diameter. Correspondingly, analysis of
variance revealed that the progression of glaucoma was statistically
independent of size and shape of the optic disc.
Conclusions. Progression of glaucomatous visual field loss may be
independent of size and shape of the optic disc.