Journal of Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology
Open Access

Abstract

The Influence of Corneal Thickness on Progression of Hypertensive Glaucoma

Jan Lešták and Pavel Rozsíval

Objectives: To verify whether there is dependence between corneal thickness and progression of glaucoma, to assess the impact of early changes in the visual field on their progression in time.
Methods and Patients: Findings of 132 eyes in 67 patients with primary hypertensive open-angle glaucoma, of 27 men and 40 women, mean age 66 years (28 - 84 years) were evaluated, retrospectively. Two women were included into the set with one eye (the other eye had the visual acuity below 0.1). All patients had compensated IOP after eventual correction to the corneal thickness below 18 mm Hg. None of the patients had been previously treated with brimonidine preparations or suffered from another eye disease.
Corneal pachymetry was performed on the ultrasound device SP-100 of Tomey Corporation.
The visual field was examined by static perimetry using MEDMONT M 700 device with a fast threshold glaucoma program. From two visual field tests during the past 5 years, pattern defects (PD) were evaluated.
Results: The obtained data were subjected to statistical analysis. The regression line showed a decreasing trend at the correlation coefficient r = -0.2675 (p = 0.0043). It is a statistically significant weak indirect dependence of progression of changes in the visual fields on the thickness of the cornea. Dependence of changes progression in visual fields on the initial values showed to be weak. The value of the correlation coefficient r = 0.290 (p = 0.0019).
Conclusion: The authors proved weak indirect dependence of progression of changes in visual fields in hypertensive glaucoma on the thickness of the cornea and a weak dependence of changes in the fields of vision on the initial values of the pattern defect.