AIM: To evaluate the ability of spectral domain optic coherence tomography(SD-OCT)parameters to detect progressive structural damage in primary open angle glaucoma(POAG)by contrasting with visual field.

METHODS: Retrospectively we evaluated 48 subjects(48 eyes)of POAG, followed up 14 to 62mo. The parameters of SD-OCT and visual field were obtained. The correlation between the change of visual field measurements and OCT measurements were analyzed. Visual field progression was defined as reproducible drop of at least 2dB of mean deviation(MD)from the baseline visit. ROC curve was made to evaluated the ability of OCT parameters in detect progression of POAG.

RESULTS: The 25 eyes were classified in progression group and 23 eyes were in non-progression group. No significant correlation was seen between OCT parameters and visual field in non-progression group. In progression group, OCT parameters which were significantly correlated with MD reduce were rim volume(r=-0.5997,P=0.0007), C/D vertical ratio(r=-0.6309, P=0.0003), RNFL(r=0.4201, P=0.0260), and GCC(r=0.7080,P<0.01). ROC curves showed the GCC reflected the reduce of MD accurately(P=0.013).

CONCLUSION: Part parameters of SD-OCT can reflect the progression of POAG accurately and provided a new method to detect the damage of visual function of POAG.