Correlation of structure and function in glaucoma. Quantitative measurements of disc and field.

The relationship between quantitative structural measurements of the optic nerve head and quantitative measurements of the visual field in glaucoma was studied. Computerized videographic image analysis (Rodenstock Analyzer) was used to obtain cup-disc ratio, disc rim area, and cup volume in 50 glaucoma suspects and 37 glaucoma patients. The visual field indices, mean defect and loss standard deviation, were calculated from Octopus Program 32. There were statistically significant linear correlations between each of the optic nerve structural parameters and visual field mean defect and loss standard deviation. The strongest correlation was between disc rim area and visual field mean defect (r = -0.49), which are both global measures of glaucomatous damage. The correlations were not strong enough to readily allow the recognition of early nerve damage by the parameters analyzed thus far. Closer correlations may be evident if structural parameters can be found that more accurately reflect the number of surviving axons in the optic nerve head.