Optic nerve head vessel density in different stages of pseudoexfoliation disease.

Purpose: To evaluate the superficial vascular density of the optic nerve head in different stages of pseudoexfoliation disease using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA).
Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 57 normal eyes, 41 eyes with pseudoexfoliation syndrome (PXS), 82 eyes with pseudoexfoliation glaucoma (PXG) and 27 non-glaucomatous fellow eyes of PXG (NL-PXG) that had OCTA were included. Circumpapillary RNFL (cpRNFL) thickness and circumpapillary capillary density (cpCD) were compared among the groups after adjusting for confounders using linear-mixed model.
Results: PXG eyes had thinner global RNFL and lower cpCD (74.2±14.3 µm and 36.7±10.0%) than control (103.3±8.6 µm and 52.5±2.3%), PXS (96.8±8.8 µm and 51.5±2.3%), and NL-PXG eyes (96.3±11.1 µm and 50.1±3.9%) (p<0.001). After adjustment for age, gender and signal strength index, global cpRNFL thickness was comparable among control, PXS and NL-PXG. NL-PXG had the lowest cpCD (p=0.045) and sectoral cpCD compared to PXS and control eyes. Although cpCD was comparable between control and PXS (p=0.425) eyes, sectoral differences (p=0.009 and 0.004, for inferonasal and temporal-inferior cpCD, respectively) were detectable between the two groups. AUROC for differentiating NL-PXG eyes from normal were better for cpCD (0.78) compared to cpRNLF (0.69).
Conclusions: OCTA can detect reduced capillary density before significant changes in cpRNFL in fellow eyes of PXG patients. This can enable earlier detection of glaucomatous loss in pseudoexfoliation disease and enhance management of the disease.
Competing Interests: Competing interests: Weinreb: Aerie Pharmaceuticals (C), Alcon (C), Allergan (C), Bausch & Lomb (C), Eyenovia (C), Unity (C), Heidelberg Engineering (F), Carl Zeiss Meditec (F), Genentech (F), Konan (F), OptoVue (F), Topcon (F), Optos (F), Centervue (F). Rao HL: Santen (C), Carl Zeiss Meditec (C), Allergan (C). Others: none.
(© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)