Retinal nerve fiber layer damage assessment in glaucomatous eyes using cumulated vectorial birefringence measured by polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography

This study investigated the use of polarization-sensitive optical coherence tomography (PS-OCT) to assess the damage in the retina nerve fiber layer (RNFL) in glaucoma. Parameters such as retinal retardance (RR), measured by PS-OCT, and RNFL thickness (RNFLT), measured by OCT, were correlated with visual field (VF) tests in a clinical cohort (49 healthy individuals and 68 patients with various stages of glaucoma). We found that RR showed better association with VF-MD than RNFLT in glaucomatous eyes, especially in advanced cases. PS-OCT has the potential in evaluating the RNFL damage in eyes with severe glaucoma, addressing a current challenge in clinics.