Regional relationship between retinal nerve fiber layer thickness and corresponding visual field sensitivity in glaucomatous eyes.

OBJECTIVE

To establish the structure-function relationship between peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness and visual field (VF) test points in standard automated perimetry.

METHODS

We included 213 eyes with open-angle glaucoma and VF loss in this cross-sectional study. Correlations between individual VF sensitivity at 52 test points and peripapillary RNFL thickness divided into 16 sectors were calculated. The RNFL thickness was measured by Stratus optical coherence tomography. A new VF cluster map corresponding to RNFL sectors was generated by grouping the VF test points with the highest relation to each RNFL sector.

RESULTS

The VF sensitivity at each test point was significantly correlated with the sectoral RNFL thickness. The highest coefficient of determination (R(2)) for a superotemporal RNFL sector and VF sensitivity at an inferotemporal test point (9 degrees temporal and 15 degrees inferior from the center) in standard automated perimetry was 0.500 (P < .001). Clustered VF test points most highly related to the RNFL sectors were asymmetrically located between the upper and lower hemifields. A newly developed map revealed significant structure-function relationships.

CONCLUSIONS

We describe an association between VF sensitivity at test points and sectoral RNFL thickness. Nine clustered VF test points corresponding to 9 RNFL regions were demonstrated from the structure-function relationships.