About the research topic
Glaucoma often involves visual field loss and damage to the papilla and retina. Changes have also been observed in the blood vessels in the retina, including a reduced density of blood vessels and a smaller diameter of the individual blood vessels. This suggests that the disease process of glaucoma also contains a blood flow component, where the retinal damage may be secondary to impaired blood circulation. Adaptive optics flood illumination ophthalmoscopy (AO-FIO) has recently become available for clinical use. It has a good lateral resolution (down to two microns), allowing individual photoreceptors to be visualized. AO-FIO allows the evaluation of individual retinal structures, including the walls of blood vessels.
This pilot study aims to evaluate vascular parameters in patients with glaucoma and compare them with healthy controls using the rtx1 AO-FIO camera. We also want to investigate the associations between these vascular parameters and those from Optical coherence tomography (OCT) and OCT Angiography (OCTA) – imaging modalities with less resolution but widely used in clinic – as well as functional defects in the visual field.
Funding: Stichting Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek Oogziekenhuis
