The ganglion cell complex as an useful tool in glaucoma assessment

Abstract

Glaucoma is known as an optic neuropathy prone to progression that determines characteristic not only structural (loss of the ganglion cells as well as their axons) but also functional defects (visual field loss). Objective: To evaluate the possibility of applying ganglion cell complex analysis (GCC) in patients who associate ocular hypertension with tilted disc and marked peripapillary atrophy.Methods: In order to evaluate its components, GCC can be investigated using the Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) revealing: ganglion cell layer (cells bodies), inner plexiform layer (dendrites and synapses), and nerve fiber layer (axons). Our study included 196 eyes divided into 3 groups: 52 diagnosed with primary open angle glaucoma (POAG), 63 with ocular hypertension (OH), and 81 healthy (normal) eyes (NE). All eyes were submitted to a complete ophthalmologic checkup that involved advanced optic nerve and GCC evaluation. Results: A positive statistically significant correlation was identified between the GCC thickness and the RNFL in all three categories taken into account: R=0,6, p<0,0001 for glaucoma group, R=0,66, p<0,0001 for OH group and R=0,46, p<0,0001 for normal group.Conclusions: GCC has been proved useful for the assessment of the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) in eyes with OH that associate tilted disc or peripapillary atrophy where the optic disc edges might not be certainly determined by the OCT.

The Relationship Between Corneal Hysteresis and Retinal Ganglion Cells – A Step Forward in Early Glaucoma Diagnosis

“…Our study revealed that means of GCC thickness were higher in NE than in OH eyes and higher than in POAG patients. Other studies also proved that in glaucoma patients, means of GCC correspond to means of pRNFL and are lower than in normal individuals [ 10 , 18 , 38 , 41 ].…”

Arterial hemodynamics and its correlation with retinal microarchitecture in pseudoexfoliation glaucoma

“…Especially compared with primary open-angle glaucoma, patients with XFG are characterized by high mean IOP, wide fluctuation range, severe VF damage, retrobulbar hypoperfusion, and rapid disease progress (15) . The inclusion of many factors, such as IOP value, rim area, C/D ratio, VF parameters, RNFL, and GCC thickness values while evaluating patients with suspected glaucoma or diagnosed with glaucoma provides very important information about disease progression (16) . In our study, the correlation between GCC and peripapillary RNFL thickness and ONH parameters with CDU measurements in patients with XFG were evaluated and compared with normal cases.…”

Peroxisome Proliferator-Activated Receptor α Activation Protects Retinal Ganglion Cells in Ischemia-Reperfusion Retinas

“…Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α activation by FA reduced the RGC loss caused by IR efficaciously, indicating that PPARα had a protective role in this process. Second, we measured retinal GCC thickness [a widely used indicator for detection of RGC loss in clinical diagnoses ( 33 , 34 )] after FA treatment to further demonstrate the protective effect of PPARα on RGCs. Our results showed that GCC was thinner than the normal group at 72 h post-modeling, and FA treatment alleviated this structural change in the IR retina.…”