Depth-resolved extraction of optical attenuation for glaucoma assessment in clinical settings: a pilot study

Abstract

We assessed the ability of the optical attenuation coefficient (AC) to detect early-stage glaucoma with two AC estimation algorithms: retinal layer intensity ratio (LIR) and depth-resolved confocal (DRC). We also introduced new depth-dependent AC parameters for retinal nerve fiber layer assessment. Optical coherence tomography B-scans were collected from 44 eyes of age-similar participants with eye health ranging from healthy to severe glaucoma, including glaucoma suspect patients. Mean AC values estimated from the DRC method are comparable to ratio-extracted values (p > 0.5 for all study groups), and the depth-dependent AC_DRC parameters enhance the utility of the AC for detection of early-stage glaucoma.