Structure-function relationships using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography: comparison with scanning laser polarimetry.

Purpose: To evaluate and compare the regional relationships between visual field sensitivity and retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness as measured by spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) and scanning laser polarimetry.

Design: Prospective cross-sectional study.

Methods: One hundred and twenty eyes of 120 patients (40 with healthy eyes, 40 with suspected glaucoma, and 40 with glaucoma) were tested on Cirrus-OCT, GDx VCC, and standard automated perimetry. Raw data on RNFL thickness were extracted for 256 peripapillary sectors of 1.40625 degrees each for the OCT measurement ellipse and 64 peripapillary sectors of 5.625 degrees each for the GDx VCC measurement ellipse. Correlations between peripapillary RNFL thickness in 6 sectors and visual field sensitivity in the 6 corresponding areas were evaluated using linear and logarithmic regression analysis. Receiver operating curve areas were calculated for each instrument.

Results: With spectral-domain OCT, the correlations (r(2)) between RNFL thickness and visual field sensitivity ranged from 0.082 (nasal RNFL and corresponding visual field area, linear regression) to 0.726 (supratemporal RNFL and corresponding visual field area, logarithmic regression). By comparison, with GDx-VCC, the correlations ranged from 0.062 (temporal RNFL and corresponding visual field area, linear regression) to 0.362 (supratemporal RNFL and corresponding visual field area, logarithmic regression). In pairwise comparisons, these structure-function correlations were generally stronger with spectral-domain OCT than with GDx VCC and with logarithmic regression than with linear regression. The largest areas under the receiver operating curve were seen for OCT superior thickness (0.963 ± 0.022; P < .001) in eyes with glaucoma and for OCT average thickness (0.888 ± 0.072; P < .001) in eyes with suspected glaucoma.

Conclusions: The structure-function relationship was significantly stronger with spectral-domain OCT than with scanning laser polarimetry, and was better expressed logarithmically than linearly. Measurements with these 2 instruments should not be considered to be interchangeable.