Background/Objectives: Optical coherence tomography-angiography (OCT-A) is a non-invasive method of visualizing the capillary system. As vascular dysregulation impacts glaucoma pathogenesis, the aim of this study was to evaluate APSified-BMO-based-peripapillary vessel density (VD) in patients with ocular hypertension (OHT), pre-perimetric-open-angle glaucoma, as well as primary (POAG) and secondary (SOAG) open-angle glaucoma in comparison to healthy controls using OCT-A. Methods: The present study included 180 eyes from 115 patients of the Erlangen Glaucoma Registry, divided into 35 eyes with OHT, 16 pre-perimetric-OAG eyes, 64 OAG eyes—which were subdivided into 37 POAG and 27 SOAG eyes—and 65 healthy controls. All subjects underwent measurements of the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL), inner nuclear layer (INL), retinal ganglion cell (RGC) layer, and Bruch membrane opening–minimum rim width (BMO-MRW). APSified-BMO-based-peripapillary vessel density (VD) was visualized by using OCT-A and quantified using the Erlangen Angio Tool. Results: Mean APSified-BMO-based peripapillary VD showed a significant correlation with age (p < 0.0001). Considering the age effect, mean APSified-BMO-based peripapillary VD of OAG was significantly lower compared to healthy eyes (p < 0.0001) and OHT (p = 0.016). Subgroup analysis yielded a significant difference in mean APSified-BMO-based peripapillary VD between controls and POAG (p = 0.001) and SOAG (p = 0.018), respectively. In addition, a significant difference was observed between OHT and POAG patients (p = 0.036). No significant differences were observed between the OHT, pre-perimetric-OAG, and healthy eyes, respectively. Conclusions: As peripapillary VD was significantly decreased in glaucoma patients compared to controls, the data might suggest that peripapillary VD might be useful for monitoring glaucoma progress.
Moritz et al. (Sat,) studied this question.