Biomechanical response of lamina cribrosa and prelaminar tissue to an acute induced IOP elevati

Purpose We decided to investigate the effects of an acute induced IOP elevation on the prelaminar tissue and on the lamina cribrosa in glaucomatous eyes and in healthy eyes by means of an high resolution Spectral Domain (SD) OCT. Methods We enrolled 10 patients (mean age 70.2 years) affected by primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) and 10 healthy subjects (mean age 70.8 years) as controls. All the subjects were scanned with a SD-OCT with real-time eye tracking at baseline and in the same exact position during IOP elevation performed with an ophthalmodynamometer. The IOP was measured with a Tono-Pen at baseline and during IOP elevation. The SD-OCT images acquired were processed with a computer graphical suite to determine the prelaminar tissue displacement (PTD) and the laminar displacement in the two groups. An analysis of variance was used for evaluating group differences considering statistically significant a P < 0.05. Results Baseline IOP was significantly different in the two groups, with higher values in patients compared to controls: 18.9(4.3) vs. 15.7(2.6) mmHg (P