The Relationship Between Retinal Nerve Fiber Thickness and Retinal Functional Sensitivity During Oct and Static Perimeter Examinations

Overview

Aims: To demonstrate the relationship of dependency between the thickness of the retinal nerve fiber layer and the functional sensitivity of the retina in healthy young individuals. We also secondarily investigated the relationship between refractive error and mean retinal thickness in the macula.

Material and methods: The basic cohort contained 30 subjects with an average age of 23.4 ±4.2 years. These were young, generally healthy individuals without serious ocular pathologies. The average value of spherical equivalent in both eyes of all individuals was -1.2 ±2.5 D. We measured the thickness of the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) in the papilla area and the average thickness of the retina in the area of the macula using the device OPKO Spectral OCT SLO Combination Imaging System (Opko Health, USA). We performed a functional examination of the retina within an area up to 30° using a perimeter with a stimulus with a Frequency Doubling Technology (FDT) from the company Humphrey (Carl Ziess Meditec, Inc., Dublin, CA). As a significant variable for comparison, we determined the mean value of retinal sensitivity deviation (MD).

Results: In our study, we did not demonstrate a statistically significant relationship between the average thickness of the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) and the average value of retinal functional sensitivity (r = 0.18, p = 0.34) in either right eyes or the left eyes of the examined subjects (r = 0.20, p = 0.29). We also did not find a statistically significant relationship secondarily between the variable called the spherical equivalent of refractive error (SE) and the average retinal thickness in the macula in either the right eyes (r = 0.34, p = 0.06) or the left eyes (r = 0.18, p = 0.32).

Conclusion: When comparing the average thickness of the nerve fibers in the papilla with the help of OCT examination and the functional sensitivity of the retina measured on an FDT perimeter, we did not find a statistically significant dependence in the group of right eyes or in the group of left eyes. We also achieved a similar result when examining the interdependence of the variables of spherical equivalent of refractive error of the eye and the average thickness of the retina in the macula.

Keywords:

macula – OCT – RNFL – FDT perimeter – SE – papilla