Purpose: To investigate peripapillary vessel density at various spatial locations and layers in healthy and normal tension glaucoma eyes using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA).
Methods: A commercial OCTA device (AngioPlex; Carl Zeiss Meditec) was used to image microvasculature in a 6 × 6-mm optic disc region. Vessel densities of superficial and deep retinal layers were calculated using an automatic thresholding algorithm. Vessel density maps were plotted by averaging individual angiogram images. The spatial characteristics of vessel densities were analyzed at clock-hour sectors and in five 0.7-mm-thick concentric circles from a diameter of 2.0 to 5.5 mm. Areas under the receiver operating characteristics curves (AUCs) assessed the glaucoma diagnostic ability.
Results: Vessel density maps of superficial and deep retinal layers were significantly reduced at the 7 and 11 o'clock positions in glaucomatous eyes. In superficial layer, vessel density significantly decreased as the distance from the optic disc margin increased, except in the innermost circle (2.0-2.7-mm). There were significant differences in AUCs of superficial vessel density between innermost circle and the other outer circles. In the deep layer, the innermost circle showed significantly higher vessel density than the outer circles. Vessel density at 7 o'clock showed the best diagnostic performance (AUCs, 0.898 and 0.789) both in the superficial and deep layers. The innermost circle showed eccentric feature compared to the outer circles in terms of spatial characteristics and diagnostic ability.
Conclusions: Understanding of the spatial characteristics of peripapillary vasculature may be helpful in clinical practice and determining the optimal measurement area of vessel density.
Keywords: Glaucoma; Optical coherence tomography angiography; Superficial and deep retinal layers; Vessel density.