Clinical efficacy of optical coherence tomography parameters to predict the visual field outcome following pituitary adenoma surgery.

Purpose: To investigate the factors affecting visual field recovery in patients with pituitary adenoma following surgical removal, both eyes of 35 patients with pituitary adenoma who had been followed up for > six months post-surgery were retrospectively analyzed.

Material And Methods: Pre- and post-operative visual acuity, visual field test, retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL), and ganglion cell inner plexiform layer (GCIPL) thickness were investigated. The average age of the 35 patients was 58.3 ± 11.5 years. Preoperatively, 30 eyes (mean average RNFL thickness, 99.73 ± 5.89 μm) and 40 eyes (mean average RNFL thickness, 77.55 ± 8.35 μm) were included in the thick (≥ 90 μm) and thin RNFL group (< 90 μm), respectively.

Results: In the thick RNFL group, pre- and post-operative mean deviation (MD) and pattern standard deviation (PSD) were favorable (all p < 0.001), and the proportion of eyes of postoperative MD change which were stable or improved was greater than in the thin RNFL group (p = 0.042). Preoperative MD, RNFL (except nasal quadrant) and GCIPL thickness were positively correlated to postoperative MD values (all, p < 0.05). Preoperative MD and temporal RNFL thickness were significantly correlated with postoperative MD change rate (p = 0.03 and 0.04, respectively). Preoperative GC IPL thickness and postoperative MD change rate were not significantly correlated (p = 0.61). Using univariate regression analysis, preoperative best corrected visual acuity (Odds ratio [OR], 0.050; p < 0.001), tumor volume (OR, 1.110, p = 0.002), higher preoperative MD values (OR, 0.858; p < 0.001), lower preoperative PSD values (OR, 1.169, p = 0.002), thick RNFL (OR, 0.215; p = 0.003) and thick GCIPL (OR, 0.305, p = 0.018) were significantly associated with a good visual field outcome following surgery. According to multivariate analysis, any other parameters were not significant. In patients with thick RNFL, postoperative MD values were better than in the thin RNFL group.

Conclusions: Eyes with preoperative higher MD and thick temporal RNFL showed more improvement in their visual fields postoperative. Preoperative thick RNFL could be a potential predictor of visual field recovery following TSA-TR, while macular GCIPL thickness does not appear to be a reliable predictor.