Comparison of Standard Automated Perimetry, Short-Wavelength Automated Perimetry, and Frequency-Doubling Technology Perimetry to Monitor Glaucoma Progression

Abstract

Detection of progression is paramount to the clinical management of glaucoma. Our goal is to compare the performance of standard automated perimetry (SAP), short-wavelength automated perimetry (SWAP), and frequency-doubling technology (FDT) perimetry in monitoring glaucoma progression.Longitudinal data of paired SAP, SWAP, and FDT from 113 eyes with primary open-angle glaucoma enrolled in the Diagnostic Innovations in Glaucoma Study or the African Descent and Glaucoma Evaluation Study were included. Data from all tests were expressed in comparable units by converting the sensitivity from decibels to unitless contrast sensitivity and by expressing sensitivity values in percent of mean normal based on an independent dataset of 207 healthy eyes with aging deterioration taken into consideration. Pointwise linear regression analysis was performed and 3 criteria (conservative, moderate, and liberal) were used to define progression and improvement. Global mean sensitivity (MS) was fitted with linear mixed models.No statistically significant difference in the proportion of progressing and improving eyes was observed across tests using the conservative criterion. Fewer eyes showed improvement on SAP compared to SWAP and FDT using the moderate criterion; and FDT detected less progressing eyes than SAP and SWAP using the liberal criterion. The agreement between these test types was poor. The linear mixed model showed a progressing trend of global MS overtime for SAP and SWAP, but not for FDT. The baseline estimate of SWAP MS was significantly lower than SAP MS by 21.59% of mean normal. FDT showed comparable estimation of baseline MS with SAP.SWAP and FDT do not appear to have significant benefits over SAP in monitoring glaucoma progression. SAP, SWAP, and FDT may, however, detect progression in different glaucoma eyes.

Multidimensional Functional and Structural Evaluation Reveals Neuroretinal Impairment in Early Diabetic Retinopathy

“…These findings suggest that different tests may be able to detect different subsets of patients, just as in glaucoma. 70 – 72 …”

SITA-Standard perimetry has better performance than FDT2 matrix perimetry for detecting glaucomatous progression

“…The liberal criterion was the presence of any two test locations signalled as changing with at least one non-edge location. Hu et al 14 found no statistically significant difference in the proportion of progressing and improving eyes across tests using the conservative criterion. Fewer eyes showed improvement on HFA SAP compared with FDT2 using the moderate criterion and FDT2 detected less progressing eyes than HFA SAP using the liberal criterion.…”

“…Hu et al 14 compared the performance of HFA SITA-Standard and FDT2 perimetry in monitoring glaucoma progression in 113 eyes of subjects with primary open-angle glaucoma with three criteria (conservative, moderate and liberal). The conservative criterion was the presence of at least three adjacent test locations in the same hemifield signalled as changing with at least one non-edge location.…”

Redefining clinical outcomes and endpoints in glaucoma

“…FDP testing locations have been adjusted to match the Humphrey 24-2 perimetry grid (Humphrey Matrix FDT perimeter, Carl Zeiss Meditec, Dublin, California, USA) allowing for head-to-head comparisons; significant diagnostic correlation was shown (p<0.001 for MD and PSD) [12,129]. Again, FDP technology was able to match and even modestly improve the sensitivity in detecting early glaucomatous damage, [97,110,129,137] however no improvement in monitoring progression of established glaucoma was found [96].…”