How often do you need to test to detect glaucoma progression?

Testing twice per year with ocular coherence tomography (OCT) or circumpapillary capillary density (cpCD) with OCT angiography (OCTA) appears to be sufficient for detecting glaucoma progression, according to a study, which found the 2 tests were comparable in detecting progression.

In this retrospective, observational cohort study, 156 eyes of 98 patients with glaucoma followed for an average of 3.5 years who underwent ≥4 OCT and OCTA tests were included.

“The time required to detect a statistically significant negative cpRNFL and cpCD slope decreased as the testing frequency increased, albeit not proportionally,” the authors wrote.

Most eyes (80%) with a cpCD loss of-1%/year were detected after 6 years when testing was performed 1 time per year; 4.2 years when testing was done 2 times per year; and 4 years when testing was 3 times per year.

Progression in 80% of eyes with a cpRNFL loss of -1 µm /year was detected after 6.3, 5.0., and 4.2 years, respectively.

Reference
Mahmoudinezhad G, Moghimi S, Proudfoot JA, et al. Effect of Testing Frequency on the Time to Detect Glaucoma Progression with OCT and OCT Angiography. Am J Ophthalmol. 2022;S0002-9394(22)00348-8. doi: 10.1016/j.ajo.2022.08.030. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36096181.