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Purpose: Existing summary statistics based upon optical coherence tomographic (OCT) scans and/or visual fields (VFs) are suboptimal for distinguishing between healthy and glaucomatous eyes in the clinic. This study evaluates the extent to which a hybrid deep learning method (HDLM), combined with a single wide-field OCT protocol, can distinguish eyes previously classified as either healthy suspects or mild glaucoma., Methods: In total, 102 eyes from 102 patients, with or suspected open-angle glaucoma, had previously been classified by 2 glaucoma experts as either glaucomatous (57 eyes) or healthy/suspects (45 eyes). The HDLM had access only to information from a single, wide-field (9×12 mm) swept-source OCT scan per patient. Convolutional neural networks were used to extract rich features from maps derived from these scans. Random forest classifier was used to train a model based on these features to predict the existence of glaucomatous damage. The algorithm was compared against traditional OCT and VF metrics., Results: The accuracy of the HDLM ranged from 63.7% to 93.1% depending upon the input map. The retinal nerve fiber layer probability map had the best accuracy (93.1%), with 4 false positives, and 3 false negatives. In comparison, the accuracy of the OCT and 24-2 and 10-2 VF metrics ranged from 66.7% to 87.3%. The OCT quadrants analysis had the best accuracy (87.3%) of the metrics, with 4 false positives and 9 false negatives., Conclusions: The HDLM protocol outperforms standard OCT and VF clinical metrics in distinguishing healthy suspect eyes from eyes with early glaucoma. It should be possible to further improve this algorithm and with improvement it might be useful for screening.

Importance: Little is known about the association between structural macular damage and self-reported visual function of people with glaucoma., Objective: To determine the association between vision-related quality of life among patients with primary open-angle glaucoma with structural macular retinal ganglion cell plus inner plexiform layer (RGC+IPL) loss identified by spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) machine-generated deviation maps and thickness measurements., Design, Setting, and Participants: This cross-sectional prospective study was conducted from March 1, 2014, to March 30, 2015, at the Department of Ophthalmology at Columbia University Medical Center. The participants were 107 patients who were enrolled in the study and represented the entire range of glaucomatous damage. All 214 eyes of the 107 participants underwent 10-2 visual field tests and SD-OCT scans, and all participants completed the 25-item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI VFQ-25). They also received ophthalmologic examination, including medical history review, best-corrected visual acuity, slitlamp biomicroscopy, intraocular pressure measurement, gonioscopy, dilated ophthalmoscopy, and standard automated perimetry. Macular RGC+IPL loss was determined by diffuse or focal patterns on SD-OCT-generated deviation maps (probability map that compared patients with aged-matched normative database) and thickness measurements., Main Outcomes and Measures: Regression analyses to assess the association of NEI VFQ-25 scores (score range: 41.9-99.5; higher scores indicate better functioning) with patterns of RGC+IPL loss and with RGC+IPL thickness measurements., Results: Of the 107 patients, 48 (45%) were men and the mean (SD) age was 65 (11) years. The self-reported race/ethnicity of participants consisted of 45 (46%) black, 47 (48%) white, and 6 (6%) "other" individuals. In the univariable analyses, patients with diffuse macular RGC+IPL loss had mean composite Rasch-calibrated NEI VFQ-25 scores that were 6.15 points lower than the scores of patients with focal damage (β = -6.15; 95% CI, -11.7 to -0.59; P = .03). The effect remained significant even after controlling for mean RGC+IPL thickness (β = -7.64; 95% CI, -14.2 to -1.03; P = .02)., Conclusions and Relevance: Characteristic patterns of glaucoma-related macular RGC+IPL loss appeared to be more important predictors of vision-related quality of life than thickness measures, with diffuse RGC+IPL loss as an indicator for diminished vision-related quality of life.

Purpose: To determine and compare the diagnostic performance of spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT), stereoscopic disc photographs, and automated perimetry as assessed by a group of glaucoma specialists in differentiating individuals with early glaucoma from suspects., Methods: Forty-six eyes (46 patients) with suspicious optic nerves had previously undergone SD-OCT scans, 24-2 visual fields (VFs), and optic disc photographs. The average VF mean deviation was -1.97 ± 2.09 (SD) dB. Four glaucoma specialists examined the 138 individual diagnostic tests and classified the patient as likely glaucomatous or nonglaucomatous based on the results of a single test. The diagnostic performances of each of the three tests were compared to a previously determined reference standard, based on the consensus of a separate panel of four glaucoma specialists who examined all three tests together., Results: Among the four specialists, the interobserver agreement across the three diagnostic tests was poor for VF and photos, with kappa (κ) values of 0.13 and 0.16, respectively, and moderate for OCT, with κ value of 0.40. Using panel consensus as reference standard, OCT had the highest discriminative ability, with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.99 (95% 0.96-1.0) compared to photograph AUC 0.85 (95% 0.73-0.96) and VF AUC 0.86 (95% 0.76-0.96), suggestive of closer performance to that of a group of glaucoma specialists., Conclusions: Compared to VF and disc photography, SD-OCT, when used alone, had better internal agreement as well as better agreement with the consensus of clinicians using all available data. Future studies should evaluate best practices for SD-OCT interpretation.

Purpose: To create a multivariable predictive model for glaucoma in an exclusively African American population and to compare the performance of the model with individual structural parameters derived from SD-OCT., Patients and Methods: A total of 103 healthy eyes and 118 glaucomatous eyes of African American patients underwent SD-OCT optic disc and macular scanning. Twenty-seven optic nerve head, retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL), and ganglion cell parameters were collected. A multivariable model was derived using a backward elimination variable selection procedure. Areas under the curve were used to measure the diagnostic performance of the individual parameters and the multivariable model., Results: The best performing parameters for glaucoma patients included inferior quadrant thickness (AUC=0.9239), average RNFL thickness (AUC=0.9209), sup2 RNFL thickness (AUC=0.9157), superior quadrant thickness (AUC=0.8906), and vertical CDR (AUC=0.8640). The best performing parameters for early glaucoma patients were sup2 RNFL thickness (AUC=0.8680), inferior quadrant thickness (AUC=0.8571), average RNFL thickness (AUC=0.8550), superior quadrant thickness (AUC=0.8420), and inf2 RNFL thickness (AUC=0.8420). The AUC of the multivariable model was 0.8918 for early glaucoma and 0.9744 for moderate/advanced glaucoma. There was some variability in the performance of the model based on disc size., Conclusions: These findings confirm that several individual RNFL, ONH, and GCA parameters have excellent diagnostic performance in differentiating glaucomatous patients from healthy patients in African American population. A multivariable model was developed and validated with high diagnostic accuracy.

Purpose: There are well-established differences in optic nerve morphology between patients of African and European descent. Spectral domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) scanning has demonstrated these differences with respect to optic disc area (DA), average cup-disc ratio, cup volume, and nerve fiber layer thickness. However, the term "African descent" describes a heterogenous group with considerable variability. This study evaluates differences in optic nerve and retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) parameters as measured by Cirrus HD-OCT between Caribbean black and African American patients., Design and Methods: A total of 25 African American subjects and 25 Caribbean black subjects with normal ocular examinations were consecutively recruited to this study. All patients received imaging of the optic nerve and nerve fiber layer with Cirrus HD-OCT. Optic nerve and RNFL parameters were evaluated for statistically significant differences using a t test. A mixed effect model for correlated data was then created to adjust outcome variables for (1) repeated measures and (2) optic nerve size. Two one-sided t tests were then utilized to determine equivalence., Results: After adjustment for DA, RNFL thickness, cup volume, DA, inferior nerve fiber layer, and vertical cup-disc ratio demonstrated statistically significant equivalence between the 2 groups (P value <0.05). The superior nerve fiber layer quadrant was significantly different between the 2 groups and may merit further investigation., Conclusions: Findings of this study suggest that optic nerve and RNFL morphology is markedly similar between Caribbean blacks and African Americans once adjusted for optic nerve size but cannot be considered equivalent in all measures, particularly in the superior nerve fiber layer.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to quantitatively study the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness in children born prematurely with isolated optic nerve cupping., Patients and Methods: Six otherwise healthy premature children with clinical evidence of increased cup to disc ratios were enrolled in this observational case series. RNFL thickness was measured using Cirrus optical coherence tomography (OCT) optic disc cube 200×200 protocol and compared with age-matched normal controls using T test for statistical significance, with Bonferroni correction when appropriate., Results: Nerve fiber layer measurements showed a statistically significant decrease in overall RNFL. Superior quadrant RNFL thinning was statistically significant and inferior, nasal, and temporal nerve fiber layer thickness was decreased, although results were not statistically significant., Conclusions: Nerve fiber layer thinning in children born prematurely showing enlarged cup to disc ratios appears more consistent with optic nerve hypoplasia than glaucoma, as reflected by the markedly decreased average nerve fiber layer thickness with no other hallmarks of congenital glaucoma.

Glaucoma is a chronic neurodegenerative disease of the optic nerve and a leading cause of irreversible blindness, worldwide. While the experimental research using animal models provides growing information about cellular and molecular processes, parallel analysis of the clinical presentation of glaucoma accelerates the translational progress towards improved understanding, treatment, and clinical testing of glaucoma. Optic nerve axon injury triggers early alterations of retinal ganglion cell (RGC) synapses with function deficits prior to manifest RGC loss in animal models of glaucoma. For testing the clinical relevance of experimental observations, this study analyzed the functional correlation of localized alterations in the inner plexiform layer (IPL), where RGCs establish synaptic connections with retinal bipolar and amacrine cells. Participants of the study included a retrospective cohort of 36 eyes with glaucoma and a control group of 18 non-glaucomatous subjects followed for two-years. The IPL was analyzed on consecutively collected macular SD-OCT scans, and functional correlations with corresponding 10–2 visual field scores were tested using generalized estimating equations (GEE) models. The GEE-estimated rate of decrease in IPL thickness (R = 0.36, P<0.001) and IPL density (R = 0.36, P<0.001), as opposed to unchanged or increased IPL thickness or density, was significantly associated with visual field worsening at corresponding analysis locations. Based on multivariate logistic regression analysis, this association was independent from the patients' age, the baseline visual field scores, or the baseline thickness or alterations of retinal nerve fiber or RGC layers (P>0.05). These findings support early localized IPL alterations in correlation with progressing visual field defects in glaucomatous eyes. Considering the experimental data, glaucoma-related increase in IPL thickness/density might reflect dendritic remodeling, mitochondrial redistribution, and glial responses for synapse maintenance, but decreased IPL thickness/density might correspond to dendrite atrophy. The bridging of experimental data with clinical findings encourages further research along the translational path. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]