Objective: To assess the ability of the Retinal Thickness Analyzer (RTA) to detect quantitative glaucomatous damage at the posterior pole of the retina (central 20-degrees) and to compare it to glaucomatous visual field defects detected by the Frequency Doubling Technology (FDT) and the Humphery Visual Field Analyzer (HFA).
Methods: Retinal thickness scanning and FDT (c-30 full threshold) were performed on the same day on one or both eyes of patients with chronic open-angle glaucoma. All patients underwent an optic disk and clinical nerve fiber layer evaluation. Humphery visual field test was performed within a week of the RTA examination. Thinning of the retina of more than 40 microns was considered significant damage. On the FDT, two or more abnormal locations of the 19 locations, with PSD<5%, were considered as glaucomatous visual field defects.
Results: Twenty-one eyes of 16 patients were studied. All eyes had a C/D ratio of 0.7 or more. RTA showed areas of thinning of the posterior-pole in 77.7% and in 73.3% of the eyes with significant visual field defect on HFA and FDT, respectively.
Conclusion: RTA may provide a sensitive quantitative method for detection of glaucomatous damage and can be used as a supplementary test to perimetry for glaucoma follow-up.