Faculty Bibliography

OBJECTIVE: To compare the ability of expert clinicians, using qualitative assessment of stereoscopic optic disc photographs, and confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope imaging to discriminate between healthy persons and patients with early glaucoma. DESIGN: Comparative instrument validation study. PARTICIPANTS: Seventy-two healthy persons and 51 patients with early glaucoma (average visual field mean deviation, -3.6 dB). Early glaucoma was defined as a history of ocular hypertension and a reproducible visual field defect scoring 5 or less in the Advanced Glaucoma Intervention Study classification, regardless of optic disc appearance. INTERVENTION: Stereoscopic optic nerve head (ONH) photography and Heidelberg Retina Tomograph (HRT) imaging, (Heidelberg Engineering GmbH, Dossenheim, Germany). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Ability of clinical assessment of stereoscopic ONH photographs and analysis of HRT parameters, taking into account the optic disc size, to detect early glaucomatous optic disc changes. RESULTS: The specificity of the majority opinion of five observers to detect early glaucomatous optic disc changes was 94.4%, with a sensitivity of 70.6%. Using the HRT analysis, the specificity was 95.8% and the sensitivity was 84. 3%. CONCLUSIONS: Heidelberg Retina Tomograph image analysis that takes into account the optic disc size is more sensitive than clinical assessment of stereoscopic optic disc photographs in distinguishing between healthy persons and patients with early glaucoma.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the optic disc for structural abnormalities in the contralateral eye of unilateral normal pressure glaucoma patients. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. PARTICIPANTS: Fifty-three unilateral normal pressure glaucoma patients. TESTING: Optic disc imaging with the Heidelberg Retina Tomograph (HRT). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Optic disc structural parameters. RESULTS: Of the contralateral (normal visual field) eyes, 79.2% were found to have an abnormal optic disc by HRT analysis. Of the glaucomatous (abnormal visual field) eyes, 94.3% were found to have an abnormal disc. The patterns of disc abnormality were defined as marked or moderate diffuse thinning of the neuroretinal rim (NRR) or broad or narrow focal thinning of the NRR. The most common pattern in the contralateral eyes was moderate diffuse thinning of the NRR (45.2%). The most frequently abnormal segments were the nasal superior (73. 8%) followed by the nasal inferior and the global NRR parameter (both 54.8%). CONCLUSIONS: A high frequency of NRR thinning was found in the contralateral (normal visual field) eyes of unilateral normal pressure glaucoma patients by HRT analysis. Knowing whether these abnormalities predict future progression to the development of visual field abnormality must wait until longitudinal studies are completed. If a disc abnormality is shown to predict future field loss, then early identification will allow early treatment.

The authors illustrate the spectrum of Gaucher's disease involving the eye in the case of a 51-year-old man suffering from Type I Gaucher's disease who presented with unusual macular changes. This is the first report of chronic adult non-neuronopathic disease (Type I) with a plaque-like mass at the fovea. Our hypothesis is that the lesion at the fovea is probably an aggregation of Gaucher's cells.

AIMS: The development of imaging and measurement techniques has brought the prospect of greater objectivity in the measurement of optic disc features, and therefore better agreement between observers. The purpose of this study was to quantify and compare the variation between observers using two measurement devices. METHODS: Optic disc photographs and images from the Heidelberg retina tomograph (HRT) of 30 eyes of 30 subjects were presented to six observers for analysis, and to one observer on five separate occasions. Agreement between observers was studied by comparing the analysis of each observer with the median result of the other five, and expressed as the mean difference and standard deviation of differences between the observer and the median. Inter- and intraobserver variation was calculated as a coefficient of variation (mean SD/mean x 100). RESULTS: For planimetry, agreement between observers was dependent on observer experience, for the HRT it was independent. Agreement between observers (SD of differences as a percentage of the median) for optic disc area was 4.0% to 7.2% (planimetry) and 3.3% to 6.0% (HRT), for neuroretinal rim area it was 10.8% to 21.0% (planimetry) and 5.2% to 9.6% (HRT). The mean interobserver coefficient of variation for optic disc area was 8.1% (planimetry) and 4.4% (HRT), for neuroretinal rim area it was 16.3% (planimetry) and 8.1% (HRT), and (HRT only) for rim volume was 16.3%, and reference height 9.1%. HRT variability was greater for the software version 1.11 reference plane than for version 1.10. The intraobserver coefficient of variation for optic disc area was 1.5% (planimetry) and 2.4% (HRT), for neuroretinal rim area it was 4.0% (planimetry) and 4.5% (HRT). CONCLUSIONS: Variation between observers is greatly reduced by the HRT when compared with planimetry. However, levels of variation, which may be clinically significant, remain for variables that depend on the subjective drawing of the disc margin.