Based on six distinct zones of peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness, the inferior and superior temporal sectors may be best at detecting glaucoma, a recent study in the Journal of Glaucoma reports. These measures are comparable to the collective peripapillary RNFL and macular ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer (GCIPL) of mild, moderate and severe open-angle glaucoma patients, the researchers add.

 The team also found peripapillary RNFL had the best diagnostic performance in mild and severe glaucoma cases.

The study enrolled 318 eyes of 181 subjects with open-angle glaucoma (122 mild, 60 moderate and 136 severe) and 70 healthy individuals—all of whom underwent SD-OCT.

The researchers found the peripapillary RNFL thickness (99.81μm) and macular GCIPL thickness (83.24μm) were higher in the controls compared with those with glaucoma (67.42μm and 63.31μm, respectively). Additionally, peripapillary RNFL had the best diagnostic performance in mild and severe glaucoma. Of the six regions, the inferior temporal sector did the best in discriminating glaucomatous changes between the healthy patients and mild and moderate cases. The superior temporal sector best differentiated glaucomatous changes between the control group and severe glaucoma patients.