Credit: NEI

Researchers in India found using swept-source anterior-segment optical coherence tomography (SS-ASOCT) to analyse the trabecular meshwork (TM) helped identify early-onset childhood glaucoma.

For the diagnosis of childhood glaucoma, the current standard of care is an examination under anaesthesia, said Drs Sylvia Groth and Rachel Kuchtey, Vanderbilt University, US, and adding that the expense and risk of anaesthesia is not insignificant.

Writing in JAMA Ophthalmology, researchers from Chandigarh Advanced Eye Centre said they compared the SS-ASOCT features of 23 paediatric patients without and 30 paediatric patients with early-onset childhood glaucoma. The TM shadow was clearly visible in all patients without glaucomatous eyes (100%), but only in eight patients with glaucomatous eyes (26.7%) (sensitivity of 73.3% and specificity of 100%), they said.

Although the patients with glaucoma had greater anterior chamber angle measurement values than those without, the visibility of the TM structure was the most specific sign for glaucomatous eyes in this relatively small cohort, they concluded.