The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of VF and the VA on vision related quality of life (VRQoL) in advanced glaucoma. Subjects consist of 50 glaucoma patients with mean deviation (MD) less than −20 dB in at least one eye. Patients' VRQoL was assessed using the ‘Sumi questionnaire’. The impact of seven visual measures on VRQoL were compared using principal component regression: MDs of better and worse eyes with 10-2 and 24-2 Humphrey VFs, LogMAR VAs of better and worse eyes and the Esterman score. The root mean of the squared prediction error (RMSE) was calculated using leave-one-out cross validation. Better eye summary measurements were much more influential on VRQoL than corresponding worse eye measurements and Esterman score in every VRQoL task. In conclusion, in advanced glaucoma, VF parameters of the better eye are important for the VRQoL of the patient.

AimsTo investigate morphological changes in type VI collagen in the human trabecular meshwork associated with the rho kinase inhibitor ripasudil.MethodsThis cross-sectional study evaluated the effects of ripasudil eye drop administration (RA) or no ripasudil eye drop administration (NRA) in patients with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG; age range 60–80 years) who underwent conventional outflow reconstruction between December 2015 and September 2016 at Tokai University Hachioji Hospital. The juxtacanalicular tissue was removed and imaged using transmission electron microscopy. Type VI collagen comprises cross-banded aggregates with transverse bands 30 nm apart repeating every 105 nm. The transverse bands are called the outer rod-like region (ORR) and the intervals are called the inner rod-like region (IRR). The waveform intensity in the type VI collagen was analysed in electron micrographs using Fourier transformation to detect the IRR and ORR borders.ResultsTen eyes of 10 patients were included (n=5/group). The baseline characteristics did not differ significantly between groups. ORR width was significantly smaller in the RA group (37.85±3.43 nm) than in the NRA group (50.62±5.23 nm, p<0.05), whereas IRR width was significantly greater in the RA group (70.68±10.84 nm) than in the NRA group (58.19±5.34 nm, p<0.05). Morphological changes in the type VI collagen total width tended to correlate with the duration of ripasudil administration (r=0.9, p=0.08).ConclusionsRipasudil administration in patients with POAG induced morphological changes in type VI collagen. Patients with POAG administered RA had a significantly smaller ORR width and a significantly greater IRR width than patients with POAG not administered RA.