The relationship between choroidal blood flow and glaucoma progression in a Japanese study population

Purpose To determine whether choroidal blood flow (BF) is related to visual field (VF) defect severity and progression in eyes with open-angle glaucoma (OAG). Study design Retrospective and longitudinal. Methods This study comprised 443 eyes of 285 OAG patients who underwent laser speckle flowgraphy (LSFG), optical coherence tomography, and visual-field (VF) testing at baseline. The patients were then observed for at least 2 years and at least 5 reliable VF tests were performed. In the LSFG images, we set regions of interest at the optic nerve head (ONH) and the parapapillary choroid to obtain ONH-tissue mean blur rate (MBR) and choroidal MBR, respectively. We used univariable and multivariable linear mixed-effects models to determine clinical factors associated with choroidal MBR at baseline. We also used a linear mixed-effects model to determine the contribution of ONH-tissue MBR and choroidal MBR to baseline mean deviation (MD) and to MD slope during follow-up, adjusting for potential confounding factors, including circumpapillary retinal nerve fiber layer thickness. Results Choroidal MBR was associated with age, MD slope, and ONH-tissue MBR (beta = -0.181, P = 0.001; beta = 0.134, P = 0.002; beta = 0.096, P = 0.049, respectively). ONH-tissue MBR was associated with both MD and MD slope (beta = 0.146, P = 0.004; beta = 0.152, P = 0.009, respectively), whereas choroidal MBR was associated only with MD slope (beta = 0.147, P = 0.005). Conclusion LSFG-derived choroidal MBR might be a useful biomarker to predict VF defect progression in a Japanese population.

Automated summary

This study found that LSFG-derived choroidal MBR might be a useful biomarker for predicting visual field defect progression in patients with open-angle glaucoma.