Clinical Significance of Optic Disc Progression by Topographic Change Analysis Maps in Glaucoma: An 8-Year Follow-Up Study

Aim. To investigate the ability of Heidelberg Retina Tomograph (HRT3) Topographic Change Analysis (TCA) map to predict the subsequent development of clinical change, in patients with glaucoma. Materials. 61 eyes of 61 patients, which, from a retrospective review were defined as stable on optic nerve head (ONH) stereophotographs and visual field (VF), were enrolled in a prospective study. Eyes were classified as TCA-stable or TCA-progressed based on the TCA map. All patients underwent HRT3, VF, and ONH stereophotography at 9–12 months intervals. Clinical glaucoma progression was determined by masked assessment of ONH stereophotographs and VF Guided Progression Analysis. Results. The median (IQR) total HRT follow-up period was 8.1 (7.3, 9.1) years, which included a median retrospective and prospective follow-up time of 3.9 (3.1, 5.0) and 4.0 (3.5, 4.7) years, respectively. In the TCA-stable eyes, VF and/or photographic progression occurred in 5/13 (38.4%) eyes compared to 11/48 (22.9%) of the TCA-progressed eyes. There was no statistically significant association between TCA progression and clinically relevant (photographic and/or VF) progression (hazard ratio, 1.18; P = 0.762). The observed median time to clinical progression from enrollment was significantly shorter in the TCA-progressed group compared to the TCA-stable group (P = 0.04). Conclusion. Our results indicate that the commercially available TCA progression criteria do not adequately predict subsequent photographic and/or VF progression.