Identifying and understanding optical coherence tomography artifacts that may be confused with glaucoma

Optical coherence tomography is often used for detection of glaucoma as well as to monitor progression. This paper reviews the most common types of artifacts on the optical coherence tomography report that may be confused with glaucomatous damage. We mainly focus on anatomy-related artifacts in which the retinal layer segmentation and thickness measurements are correct. In such cases, the probability maps (also known as deviation maps) show abnormal (red and yellow) regions, which may mislead the clinician to assume disease is present. This is due to the anatomic variability of the individual, and the normative database must be taken into account.