[Relationship between visual field loss and retinal nerve fiber layer thickness in open-angle glaucoma].

We studied the correlation between retinal nerve fiber layer thickness and visual field loss in 117 eyes of 62 patients with open angle glaucoma using the Aulhorn Classification as modified by Greve. We divided the peripapillary area into four quadrants [superior (S), inferior (I), temporal (T), nasal (N)] and the total (T0), and measured the peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (NFLT) with a confocal scanning laser polarimeter (Nerve Fiber Analyzer). We also obtained the relative ratios (mean ratios) of the total circumference to the nasal quadrant (T0/N), the superior to the nasal quadrant (S/N), the temporal to the nasal quadrant (T/N), the inferior to the nasal quadrant (I/N), the total to the temporal quadrant (T0/T), the superior to the temporal quadrant (S/T), the nasal to the temporal quadrant (N/T), and the inferior to the temporal quadrant (I/T). Significant decreases were observed in the mean ratios to the temporal quadrant, i.e., T0/T, S/T, and I/T, in stages I to VI when compared with stage 0. However, no significant differences were observed among stages I to VI. These results suggest that these parameters may not precisely reflect the progression of the disease, but may aid differential diagnosis of the early stage (stage 0) from the middle and late stages (stages I to VI).