A team of researchers from Mount Sinai Hospital are using optical coherence tomography (OCT) angiography to identify characteristic patterns of different forms of glaucoma based on their vascular patterns, allowing them to identify certain types of glaucoma at their early stages.
By using OCT angiography to examine the blood vessels of 92 patients above the age of 50 with either primary open-angle glaucoma (high pressure); normal-tension glaucoma (low pressure); and no glaucoma, the researchers reportedly found patients with glaucoma had fewer blood vessels compared to those without glaucoma. They also found glaucoma patients had different patterns of defects in the blood flow in the most superficial layer of the retina depending on what type of glaucoma they had.
The researchers believe their findings may help lead doctors to diagnose glaucoma earlier and could also lead to the development of new therapeutic strategies to help avoid progressive damage.
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Source: Mount Sinai Hospital