Abstract :
Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide, especially in developing countries. In countries like India, late presentation and lack of awareness contribute to blindness caused by glaucoma. The only way to reduce the burden of blindness due to glaucoma is early diagnosis. The Fourier Domain OCT (FD-OCT) has evolved into one of the best techniques for early diagnosis and monitoring the progress of glaucoma. The measurement of the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) is of paramount importance in glaucoma. We, at a tertiary eye institute, undertook the present study on a FD-OCT to compare the retinal nerve fiber layer in 50 eyes each of glaucoma patients (Group A) and non-glaucomatous volunteers (Group
B). An informed consent was taken from all candidates. In Group a mean ± SD of average, superior, inferior retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (mm) were 94.26 ±13.436, 96.08 ± 15.485, 92.45 ± 13.179 respectively and in Group B mean ± SD of average, superior, inferior retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (mm) were 114.9 ± 8.022, 116.7 ± 8.058, and 113.1 ± 10.692 respectively. Using independent t-test the difference between both the groups was found to be highly significant in all the sectors. This demonstrates the need for a baseline RNFL in all glaucomatous and glaucoma suspect eyes. Using independent t-test the difference between both the groups was found to be highly significant for all the GCC parameters. The focal loss of volume (FLV)% was 3.692 ± 3.533 in the glaucomatous eyes and 0.856 1.211 in the nonglaucomatous eyes, p
Keyword :
FD-OCT, RNFL.