Aim To evaluate the diagnostic performances and correlations of retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) thickness measured by RTVue OCT and GDx variable corneal compensation (VCC).

Methods The total and regional RNFL thickness were measured by RTVue OCT and GDx VCC in 62 normal eyes and 72 glaucomatous eyes of Chinese subjects. The RNFL thickness profiles of normal and glaucomatous eyes by RTVue OCT are plotted. Correlations of RNFL thickness measured by RTVue OCT and GDx VCC were assessed using the Pearson correlation. The discriminating abilities of the two techniques for detection of glaucoma were compared by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUC).

Results RTVue OCT demonstrated double hump patterns in the RNFL profiles. In both normal and glaucomatous subjects, the peaks were located in the superotemporal (ST) and inferotemporal (IT) regions, and the troughs were located at the nasal (NU+NL) and temporal (TU+TL) regions. Despite poor agreement, a high correlation (r=0.821) was found between the mean RNFL measurements by RTVue OCT and GDx VCC. For RTVue OCT, the highest AUCs were mean RNFL (AUC=0.914) and inferior mean RNFL (AUC=0.909). The nerve fibre indicator (AUC=0.856) and inferior RNFL (AUC=0.852) achieved the highest AUCs among all the GDx VCC measurements. The mean RNFL in RTVue OCT had the greatest AUC in the two devices. There was a significant difference in comparing the AUCs of the mean RNFL thickness obtained by RTVue OCT and GDx VCC (p=0.009).

Conclusions Although there were absolute value differences in RNFL thickness, a high correlation was observed between RTVue OCT and GDx VCC. RTVue OCT shows a reasonable ability to distinguish normal from glaucomatous eyes.