Measuring Loss of Corneal Endothelial Cell Density and Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer Thickness in Primary Open Angle Glaucoma.

Background: Primary open angle glaucoma is an irreversible disease causing a reduction in corneal endothelium cells mainlyresponsible for corneal clarity along withnerve fiber layer loss.ObjectiveiTo calculate loss of corneal endothelium density (CED) andretinalnerve fiber layer(RNFL) thickness in Primary openangle glaucoma(POAG).Material and Methods: It was a prospective observational study conducted in Khyber Teaching Hospital from April 2015 toDecember 2019. A total of 112 patients were included in the study through consecutive non-probability sampling technique.Patients were diagnosed with open angle glaucoma on the basis of intra ocular pressure (IOP), optic disc changes, visual fieldschanges and Optical coherence tomography (OCT) findings. Corneal endothelium density and thickness of retinalnerve fiber layerwas calculated onthe basis of specular microscopy and OCT. These were compared with normalmatched values.Results: The POAG patients have average 17.12% CED and 34.73% RNFLthickness loss.Conclusion:It is observed that Corneal endothelial cell count may be evaluated along with nerve fiber layer thickness in Primaryopen angle glaucoma.Keywords.Specular microscopy, OCT, RNFL,POAG.