SS-ASOCT shows promise for diagnosing early-onset childhood glaucoma

Swept-source anterior-segment optical coherence tomography (SS-ASOCT) is a reliable, noninvasive imaging tool that can help distinguish early-onset childhood glaucoma from other conditions by assessing the visibility of the trabecular meshwork (TM), according to a study.

Researchers evaluated 53 children under the age of 2 who were referred for suspected glaucoma.

SS-ASOCT was used to visualize TM structures and measure anterior chamber angles. A clearly visible TM structure emerged as the strongest indicator of nonglaucomatous eyes, showing a specificity of 100% and a sensitivity of 73.3%. The study also found that children with glaucoma had significantly wider anterior chamber angles compared to those without the disease.

The researchers noted that in a control group of age-matched infants with congenital corneal opacities but no glaucoma, the TM was visible in all cases.

Reference

Kaushik S, Singh AK, Thattaruthody F, et al. Utility of Swept-Source Anterior-Segment OCT as an In-Office Biomarker for Early Childhood Glaucoma. JAMA Ophthalmol. 2025;doi: 10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2025.1009. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 40402480.