Comparison of retinal nerve fiber layer thickness measurements using time domain and spectral domain optical coherence tomography, and visual field sensitivity

Purpose: To investigate the relationship between the peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness, as measured by Stratus time domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) (Stratus OCT) and Cirrus spectral domain OCT (Cirrus HD-OCT), and the severity indices of the visual field (VF) defects in glaucoma patients. Methods: This was a prospective, cross-sectional study. Correlations between the individual VF sensitivity at 52 test points and the Stratus OCT and Cirrus HD-OCT, which determined peripapillary RNFL thicknesses from 6 sectors, were calculated in 54 eyes with open-angle glaucoma and 22 normal control eyes. The association between the RNFL thickness and VF sensitivity was evaluated using a second-order regression model. Results: A significant correlation was found for the RNFL thicknesses determined by the 2 OCT devices (r=0.51 to 0.95; P<0.001). VF sensitivities at each test point were also significantly correlated with the sectoral RNFL thicknesses. The inferotemporal RNFL sector exhibited the highest coefficient of determination, whereas the superotemporal test point had the highest VF sensitivity (Stratus, 0.70; Cirrus, 0.62). Conclusions: The structure-function relationship was comparable between Cirrus HD-OCT and Stratus OCT RNFL measurements.