Correlation between morphology of optic disc determined by Heidelberg Retina Tomograph II and visual function in eyes with open-angle glaucoma

PURPOSE To investigate the correlation between the morphology of the optic disc and the visual function of eyes with open-angle glaucoma (OAG). PATIENTS AND METHODS One hundred and three eyes of 76 patients with OAG were studied. The baseline optic disc morphology was used to classify the eyes into four types: focal ischemic type (FI), myopic glaucomatous type (MY), senile sclerotic type (SS), and generalized enlargement type (GE). The morphological parameters of the disc were determined by the Heidelberg Retina Tomograph II (HRT-II) and the visual function by the mean deviation (MD) of the Humphrey field analyzer. RESULTS Fourteen eyes were classified as the FI type; 52 as the MY type; 17 as the SS type; and 20 as the GE type. The highest correlation coefficients of HRT-II parameters to the MDs was the cup/disc area ratio (r = -0.27) for all groups, the vertical cup/disc ratio (r = -0.42) in the MY group, the maximum cup depth (r = 0.49) in the SS group, and the cup area (r = -0.70) in the GE group. However, none of the parameters was correlated in the FI group. CONCLUSIONS The correlation between the HRT-II parameters and MDs was different for the four disc types. These findings suggest that a classification of optic disc morphology had a benefit for interpreting the measured values of HRT-II.