Correlation between laser speckle flowgraphy and optical coherence tomography angiography measurements in normal and glaucomatous eyes

Abstract

Purpose

To investigate the relationship between laser speckle flowgraphy (LSFG) and optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) measurements of the peripapillary retina and optic nerve head (ONH) in normal eyes and eyes with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG).

Patients and methods

One eye from each of 46 normal subjects and mild and moderate/advanced POAG patients were included. ONH blood flow acquired by LSFG, circumpapillary vessel density (cpVD, a 250 μm-wide elliptical annulus around the optic disc), and intra-papillary vessel density (ipVD, a 1.5×1.5 mm scan field) acquired by OCTA were measured. Their values were compared among normal controls and patients at each stage of glaucoma using one-way ANOVA, and the correlation between measurements obtained by the two methods was examined by univariate regression analysis.

Results

ONH tissue blood flow, tissue mean blur rate (MBR-T), and cpVD in the outer layer of the retina significantly decreased with the progression of glaucoma stage, although the latter showed no significant difference between normal subjects and mild-stage glaucoma patients. MBR-T was significantly correlated with cpVD, but not with ipVD, in the retinal outer layer.

Conclusion

A correlation was found only between MBR-T and cpVD in the retinal outer layer. A difference in MBR-T, but not in cpVD, was detected between normal controls and mild glaucoma patients.

Keywords:

• optic nerve head
• blood flow
• laser speckle flowgraphy
• optical coherent tomography angiography

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Editage Author Services for editing this manuscript. No financial support was received for this project.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.