Can Home Monitoring Allow Earlier Detection of Rapid Visual Field Progression in Glaucoma?

PURPOSE: Recent developments in electronic technology are making it possible to home monitor the sensitivity of the central visual field using portable devices. We used simulations to investigate whether the higher test frequency afforded by home monitoring improves the early detection of rapid visual field loss in glaucoma and how any benefits might be affected by imperfect compliance or increased variability in the home-monitoring test. DESIGN: Computer simulation, with parameter selection confirmed with a cohort study. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 43 patients with treated glaucoma (both open-angle and closed-angle), ocular hypertension or glaucoma suspects (mean age, 71 years; range, 37-89 years), were followed in the cohort study. METHODS: We simulated series (n = 100 000) of visual fields for patients with stable glaucoma and patients with progressing glaucoma for 2 in-clinic (yearly and 6-monthly) and 3 home-monitoring (monthly, fortnightly, and weekly) schedules, each running over a 5-year period. Various percentages of home-monitored fields were omitted at random to simulate reduced compliance, and the variability of the home monitored fields also was manipulated. We used previously published variability characteristics for perimetry and confirmed their appropriateness for a home-monitoring device by measuring the device's retest variability at 2 months in a cohort of 43 patients. The criterion for flagging progression in our simulation was a significant slope of the ordinary least squares regression of a simulated patient's mean deviation (MD) data. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The sensitivity for identifying rapid visual field loss (-2 decibels [dB]/year loss of MD). RESULTS: Although a sensitivity of 0.8 for rapid field loss was achieved after 2.5 years of 6-monthly testing in the clinic, weekly home monitoring achieved this by 0.9 years despite moderate test compliance of 63%. The improved performance of weekly home monitoring over 6-monthly clinical testing was retained even when home monitoring was assumed to produce more variable test results or be associated with low patient compliance. CONCLUSIONS: Detecting rapid visual field progression may be improved using a home-monitoring strategy, even when compliance is imperfect. The cost-benefit of such an approach is yet to be demonstrated, however.

Performance of an iPad Application to Detect Moderate and Advanced Visual Field Loss in Nepal.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the accuracy and efficiency of Visual Fields Easy (VFE), a free iPad app, for performing suprathreshold perimetric screening. DESIGN: Prospective, cross-sectional validation study. METHODS: We performed screening visual fields using a calibrated iPad 2 with the VFE application on 206 subjects (411 eyes): 210 normal (NL), 183 glaucoma (GL), and 18 diabetic retinopathy (DR) at Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology, Kathmandu, Nepal. We correlated the results with a Humphrey Field Analyzer using 24-2 SITA Standard tests on 373 of these eyes (198 NL, 160 GL, 15 DR). RESULTS: The number of missed locations on the VFE correlated with mean deviation (MD, r = 0.79), pattern standard deviation (PSD, r = 0.60), and number of locations that were worse than the 95% confidence limits for total deviation (r = 0.51) and pattern deviation (r = 0.68) using SITA Standard. iPad suprathreshold perimetry was able to detect most visual field deficits with moderate (MD of -6 to -12 dB) and advanced (MD worse than -12 dB) loss, but had greater difficulty in detecting early (MD better than -6 dB) loss, primarily owing to an elevated false-positive response rate. The average time to perform the Visual Fields Easy test was 3 minutes, 18 seconds (standard deviation = 16.88 seconds). DISCUSSION: The Visual Fields Easy test procedure is a portable, fast, effective procedure for detecting moderate and advanced visual field loss. Improvements are currently underway to monitor eye and head tracking during testing, reduce testing time, improve performance, and eliminate the need to touch the video screen surface.

Elevated Intraocular Pressure after Descemet Stripping Automated Endothelial Keratoplasty in Patients with a Trabeculectomy: A Case Series.

We report a case series of three patients with previous trabeculectomies who developed elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) in the immediate postoperative period after routine Descemet stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty (DSAEK). All patients had functioning trabeculectomies preoperatively, and developed elevated IOP between 41 and 69 mm Hg within 24 hours following DSAEK surgery. The IOP was successfully controlled in all patients with topical IOP-lowering medications and oral acetazolamide, with the addition of ocular massage and release of aqueous for two patients. Thereafter, all patients maintained well-controlled IOPs. Patients with trabeculectomies should be followed-up closely immediately after DSAEK to monitor for raised IOP. The mechanism for this pressure rise is uncertain, but may involve air in the trabeculectomy sclerostomy or bleb resulting in blockage of aqueous flow. How to cite this article: Sheales MPH, Chan E, Ang GS, Kong YXG. Elevated Intraocular Pressure after Descemet Stripping Automated Endothelial Keratoplasty in Patients with a Trabeculectomy: A Case Series. J Curr Glaucoma Pract 2015;9(3):100-103.