Transcript Document
AUTOMATED PERIMETRY
..or..
What do all those dots and numbers mean?
Jason J S Barton
The hill/island of vision
The grey scale
on an automated
perimetric
printout is
another way of
depicting the hill
of vision, as if
seen from
directly above,
with the light
areas
representing
higher elevations
and the dark
areas lower ones.
• Differential light sensitivity
• Grid of points tested - sampling, not covering all field
• Trade-off - can’t cover the whole field in detail in a
reasonable time, so we compromise:
test lots of the field crudely
test a bit of it extensively
**90% of neurons in the central 30 degrees**
• Garbage in- garbage out
1. Strategy used:
Screening program - is there a problem?
Threshold program - how low can you go?
2. Area tested:
Screening program
Full-field 120 point (60 degrees)
Threshold program
30-2
24-2
10-2
macula
Screening field
Each location is tested only
once with a relatively bright
suprathreshold light.
If they do not see it, a black
square is marked at that spot.
Subtler defects might be
missed.
Threshold field:
(old program)
Fewer locations are
tested, but more lights
of differing brightness
are presented repeatedly
at random times in the
test session, so that at
the end there is an
estimate of the faintest
light that can be seen at
each location.
Threshold field:
(SITA program)
Fixation record
Who is this?
What did they do?
When did they do it?
How did they do it?
Reliability indices
• Number of times they saw a light flashed in
their blind spot…
• Number of times they pressed the button
when there was no light…
• Number of times they failed to press the
button for a light that they had previously
seen…
Is it junk?
Pictorial record of fixation stability on
newer program
Sensitivity plot
The higher the number, the fainter the light
that can be seen in that spot. The grey scale is
a depiction of this data.
Check the blind spot so you know which eye
is tested.
Check the number so you know how much
field is tested.
Grey scale
Total deviation
Each point’s sensitivity value is
compared to the mean and variance
for an age-matched control group.
Statistically deviant points are
flagged.
Average of all points is the mean
deviation (MD).
Pattern deviation
Are there points that are more
depressed relative to the other
points of this eye?
i.e. is there a focal defect?
Global indices
Mean deviation
Pattern standard deviation
Short-term fluctuation
Corrected pattern standard deviation
These sum up the entire session. They can be used to follow the amount of deficit over
time. Thus someone with deteriorating glaucoma may show a gradually increasing MD
and PSD.
Reading the plot:
1. Reject trash.
the 3Fs: FL, FP, FN
2. Recognize artifact.
a. positive responder bias
b. negative responder bias
c. lens holder artifact
d. lid artifact
Positive
Responder
bias
High false
positives and
fixation losses,
impossibly high
sensitivity
numbers in the
40s.
The patient is
hunting for targets
and is determined
not to miss any
possible flash,
even if there
wasn’t one!
Negative
Responder
bias
High false
negatives, global
depression, more
severe in the
periphery….this
pseudoconstriction is
typical of negative
responder bias.
The patient
refuses to press
the button unless
they are really
sure the target is
there.
Lens
holder
artifact
Could be an
inferior
arcuate, but
note that on
the temporal
side the defect
actually
appears to
arch around
the blind spot,
rather than
emerging
from it…
Lens
holder
artifact
Repeat it,
without
the lens,
and…
Lens
holder
artifactGone!
Ptotic fields
Ptosis or partial superior quadrantanopia?
Note that the superior depression does not respect the vertical meridian.
Taping the lids up will help.
Reading the plot:
3. Detect patterns.
• look at one eye only and die.
• one abnormal point does not make a federal case.
• global depression is boring.
• look at the probability plots!!!
Probability
plots
Top looks dark on the
grey scale picture, but
the probability plots
show that it is the
inferonasal field that is
abnormal - an arcuate
defect.
Probability
plots
Again, the top looks
dark on the grey scale
picture, but the
probability plots show
that there is actually a
relative central
depression - a central
scotoma.
The top field is often
less sensitive and more
variable in normal
subjects.