[The effectiveness of glaucomatous visual field test using a size I stimulus].
OBJECTIVE
Perimetry using size I and III targets was conducted on glaucoma patients. The detectability of the visual field defects using a size I target and abnormal spatial summation was investigated.


METHODS
Subjects were 14 eyes of 11 glaucoma patients with mild to moderate visual field defects and 11 eyes of 11 normal persons. Program 24-2 of the Humphrey Field Analyzer was applied to each subject. Based on the mean sensitivity and standard deviation at each coordinate in normal persons, the Z-score was calculated in the visual fields of glaucoma patients (absolute scotomas were excluded).


RESULTS
The mean Z-score of retinal sensitivity, was less for size III than for size I in abnormal lesions, and less for size I than for size III in normal lesions (paired t-test, p < 0.01). Pathological spatial summation was found more frequently in normal lesions than in abnormal lesions.


CONCLUSIONS
In mild visual field defects, size I detects abnormalities with greater sensitivity than size III. Perimetry using the size I target can be effective as a supplementary diagnostic method to detect and follow the early glaucomatous visual field.
Osako
M
M
Department of Ophthalmology, Kasumigaura Hospital, Tokyo Medical University, Japan.
Osako
S
S
Hashimoto
K
K
Okano
T
T
D005901:Glaucoma / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D058609:Visual Field Tests / Q000379:methods*; D014794:Visual Fields