Purpose: To demonstrate the superficial and deep blood supply of the optic nerve using a new method, confocal tomographic angiography, which combines two new techniques, confocal laser scanning ophthalmoscopy and indocyanine green angiography, into one system.
Methods: In a prospective study using confocal tomographic angiography, we evaluated the correlation between the vascular supply of the optic nerve and that of the visual field in 90 eyes of 49 subjects (25 eyes of 20 subjects with normal visual field and 65 glaucomatous eyes of 39 subjects with visual field defects; 10 subjects each had one eye with normal visual field and one with visual field defects).
Results: In 22 of 25 eyes with a normal visual field, a diffuse microvascular filling pattern of the optic disk area was apparent with no filling defects. The confocal tomographic angiography of 49 of 65 glaucomatous eyes had good correlation with their visual field defect location. In 20 of 27 eyes with superior visual field loss, an inferior vascular filling defect was detected. In 10 of 13 eyes with inferior visual field loss, a superior vascular filling defect was detected. In 10 of 15 eyes with superior and inferior visual field loss, inferior and superior vascular filling defects were detected. Finally, in nine of 10 eyes with total visual field loss, no vascularity of the optic disk could be detected.
Conclusion: Confocal tomographic angiography is a new imaging technology that may be applied for the evaluation of the vascular supply of the optic nerve head.