5 Key Takeaways

• 1

  Adaptive optics optical coherence tomography (AO-OCT) tracked individual retinal ganglion cell layer somas over time in 6 healthy participants and 2 patients with glaucoma.

• 2

  Among 23,586 somas tracked in healthy participants, approximately 99.7% remained unchanged over 3 years, with an average loss rate of 0.10% per year.

• 3

  In one glaucoma patient, AO-OCT detected 0.26% annual soma loss within an arcuate defect without detectable accompanying ganglion cell layer thinning.

• 4

  The other glaucoma patient had a 31.6% annual soma loss rate and approximately 13% annual ganglion cell layer thinning at the same location.

• 5

  The small cohort, limited retinal sampling, and labor-intensive analysis make the findings preliminary; the authors said further automation is needed for routine use.