The lamina cribrosa and visual field defects in open-angle glaucoma.

Two types of lamina cribrosa, one with the classic dot-like openings and the other with striate openings, were seen in 71 pairs of optic disc photographs from patients who had chronic open-angle glaucoma, were suspected to have glaucoma or had normal eyes. Of the 11 eyes with a striate pattern 64% showed glaucomatous visual field defects, whereas of the 60 eyes with a dot pattern only 12% showed such defects, a highly significant difference (p less than 0.001); when patient age and ratio of the vertical diameters of the optic cup and disc were controlled the difference remained significant (p = 0.0402). The striate pattern was also significantly associated (p less than 0.05) with a large optic cup (vertical cup/disc ratio 0.7 or greater).