title: The Frequency of Optical Coherence Tomography Testing in Glaucoma at a Single Academic Medical Center.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the frequency of optical coherence tomography (OCT) examinations compared with clinical examinations and visual field (VF) tests in patients with 5 types of glaucoma.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective, longitudinal cohort study was conducted of 5154 patients treated between 2003 and 2010 at a single academic medical center. Patients were classified using billing records as having primary open-angle glaucoma, low-tension open-angle glaucoma (NTG), pigmentary open-angle glaucoma, chronic angle-closure glaucoma, or pseudoexfoliation glaucoma. Analysis of variance, χ test, and exact χ test were performed to identify associations between glaucoma type and test frequency.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Pigmentary open-angle glaucoma and NTG patients had a higher rate of undergoing at least 2 VFs (94.4%, 94.9%), and chronic angle-closure glaucoma patients had a lower rate of undergoing at least 2 OCTs (25.3%) than all other glaucoma types. NTG patients also had the highest rate of undergoing at least 2 OCTs and at least 2 VFs (36.6%). Overall, the rate of clinical examinations (2.68 examinations/y) exceeded the rates of OCTs (1.39 examinations/y), which exceeded the rate of VF tests (1.24 tests/y). There were no differences in OCT frequency between glaucoma types (0.91 to 1.63 OCTs/y). Within each glaucoma diagnosis, patients had clinical examinations more frequently than OCTs and clinical examinations more frequently than VFs. Primary open-angle glaucoma and pseudoexfoliation glaucoma patients also had OCTs more frequently than VFs. More patients had at least 2 VF tests than at least 2 OCTs (4481 vs. 1679).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The relative use of clinical examinations, VF testing, and OCT imaging varies among glaucoma diagnoses.
authors.affiliation: *Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL †Cole Eye Institute, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH ‡Shiley Eye Center, University of California San Diego, San Diego, CA.
authors.forename: Joseph F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Griffith
authors.forename: Jeffrey L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Goldberg
mesh_terms: D000046:Academic Medical Centers; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015331:Cohort Studies; D017889:Exfoliation Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D005901:Glaucoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D015812:Glaucoma, Angle-Closure / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D005902:Glaucoma, Open-Angle / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007429:Intraocular Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D057066:Low Tension Glaucoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010808:Physical Examination; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D058609:Visual Field Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology*