Comparison of the number of peripapillary perforating scleral vessels between glaucomatous eyes and healthy eyes.

Journal: Scientific reports
Published Date: Aug 26, 2025

Abstract

This study aimed to compare the number of peripapillary perforating scleral vessels (PPSVs) between eyes with and without glaucoma. A retrospective case-control analysis was performed on patients with glaucoma and control participants who underwent swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) at a single institution. The number of PPSVs around the optic disc was counted on deep-learning assisted en face SS-OCT images created from 6 × 6 mm peripapillary volumetric scans. The study included 33 eyes from 33 participants (21 eyes from 21 patients with glaucoma and 12 eyes from 12 healthy controls). The number of PPSVs was significantly lower in eyes with glaucoma (95% confidence interval [CI], 16.0-20.6) than in control eyes (95% CI, 24.2-29.0; P < 0.001). It was not associated with age in patients with glaucoma (P = 0.89). The receiver operating characteristic curve had an area under the curve of 0.95 (95% CI, 0.93-0.97); at a cutoff value of 21.50, the sensitivity and specificity for identifying glaucoma were 84.6%, and 91.7%, respectively. These outcomes suggest that the decrease in PPSVs in glaucoma may be related to perfusion loss in the retina or optic nerve, and the number of PPSVs may be a biomarker for detecting the risk of glaucoma.

Authors

  • Satoko Fujimoto
    Department of Ophthalmology, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan.
  • Kazuichi Maruyama
    Department of Vision Informatics, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan.
  • Takashi Nishida
    From the Hamilton Glaucoma Center (A.K., S.M., T.N., G.M., E.H.L., M.C., M.A.F., L.Z., R.N.W.),; Shiley Eye Institute, Viterbi Family Department of Ophthalmology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla; School of Medicine (P.K.),; University of California Irvine, Irvine; Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering (M.S.J.),; San Diego State University, San Diego, California; Bernard and Shirlee Brown Glaucoma Research Laboratory (J.M.L.),; Department of Ophthalmology, Edward S. Harkness Eye Institute, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, New York; and the Department of Ophthalmology and Vision Sciences (M.A.F., C.A.G.),; Heersink School of Medicine, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA.
  • Akira Tanikawa
    Department of Ophthalmology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Osaka, Suita, Japan.
  • Yuri Iwamoto
    Department of Ophthalmology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Osaka, Suita, Japan.
  • Shiyi Liu
    The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine & Guangdong Clinical Research Academy of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou 510405, China.
  • Zhenguo Wang
    Topcon Advanced Biomedical Imaging Laboratory, Oakland, New Jersey, USA.
  • Nobuhiko Shiraki
    Department of Ophthalmology, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Osaka, Suita, Japan.
  • Kenji Matsushita
    Department of Ophthalmology, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-2 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka, 565-0871, Japan.
  • Masahiro Akiba
    R&D Division, TOPCON Corporation, Tokyo, Japan.
  • Kohji Nishida
    Department of Ophthalmology, Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan.

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