Spontaneous retinal venous pulsation in unilateral primary open-angle glaucoma with low intraocular pressure

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the presence of spontaneous retinal venous pulsation (SVP) in patients with unilateral primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) and low intraocular pressure (IOP). Materials and Methods: The SVP of 93 POAG patients with unilateral glaucoma and untreated IOP of ≤ 21 mm Hg was assessed using the movie tool of a confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope (Spectralis HRA; Heidelberg Engineering). The frequency of SVP was compared between the glaucomatous and fellow eyes. Intereye differences in the frequency of SVP were assessed using McNemar test. A linear mixed-effect model was used to determine the factors associated with glaucomatous eyes, taking into account clustering of eyes within subjects. Results: Forty-five patients had SVP in both eyes and 15 had SVP in neither eye. Of the remaining 33 patients who showed SVP only in 1 eye, 31 had SVP only in the fellow eye, and 2 had SVP only in the glaucomatous eye. The SVP was significantly less prevalent in glaucomatous eyes (50.5%) than in fellow control eyes (81.7%) (P < 0.001). In the linear mixed-effect model, the presence of SVP (P < 0.001) and higher untreated IOP (P = 0.001) were the significant predictors for glaucoma. Conclusions: SVP was less frequently found in glaucomatous eyes than healthy fellow eyes in unilateral POAG patients with low IOP.