Pupil autoregulation impairment as an early marker of glaucomatous damage.

Background: Glaucoma, a degenerative and progressive disease, leads to structural and functional changes in the optic nerve head and retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), while the vasculature of the iris stays intact.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine whether the coherence level associated with pupil geometry and peripheral arterial pulsation can be the basis for differentiating glaucoma and glaucoma-suspected patients from a control group.

Material And Methods: This is an investigator-initiated, single-center prospective cohort study.

Quantitative assessment of the impact of blood pulsation on images of the pupil in infrared light.

Pulsation in the blood vessels of the eye has a big impact on the dynamics of the entire eyeball and its individual elements. Blood pulsation in the retina can be recorded by the pupil, whose size is also subject to dynamic changes. The study involved synchronous measurements of pupil size using a high-speed camera, and blood pulsation using a pulse oximeter placed on the ear lobe.