OBJECTIVE: Evidence to support the hypothesis that visual field (VF) status can improve after initiation of intraocular pressure (IOP) reducing treatment is controversial. We take advantage of participant eligibility data from the United Kingdom Glaucoma Treatment Study (UKGTS) to test this hypothesis in newly diagnosed glaucomatous patients randomised to IOP lowering therapy or placebo.
METHODS: Multicentre, randomised, triple-masked, placebo-controlled trial.
METHODS: Newly diagnosed open-angle glaucoma patients in the UKGTS with eligibility and baseline data (n = 202 and n = 205 participants from the treatment and placebo groups, respectively).
METHODS: UKGTS eligibility data, including two reliable VFs (Humphrey 24-2 SITA Standard) and IOP measurements were compared to UKGTS trial baseline data acquired after allocation to treatment (topical prostaglandin analog) or placebo eye drops. Mean change in VF mean deviation (MD) and proportion of eyes that improved MD by more than different thresholds were compared across this interval in the treatment and placebo groups. Secondary analyses included stratifying the groups by level of IOP, level of VF loss and age along with pointwise analyses including change in subsets of VF locations.
METHODS: Mean change in VF MD.
RESULTS: Mean (standard deviation [SD]) time between eligibility/baseline visits and reduction in IOP was 12 (3) weeks and 4.8 (4.2) and 1.0 (3.6) mmHg for the treated and placebo eyes, respectively. Mean (SD) change in MD was almost the same for the treated (-0.03 (1.45) dB) and placebo groups (+0.08 (1.72) dB) (P=0.47). Proportion of participants with an MD improvement of 1 dB or more were similar for both groups (P=0.25). No association was found between MD improvement and magnitude of IOP lowering. Stratifying data by IOP, level of VF loss and age did not reveal any differences between the treated and placebo groups and neither did any of the pointwise VF analyses.
CONCLUSIONS: Initial short-term VF changes in the treatment and placebo arms of UKGTS were the same. In these newly diagnosed patients (non-advanced glaucoma) we found no evidence to support the hypothesis that VF status improves after initial lowering of IOP by medical therapy.

The aim of this study was to compare the effectiveness of trabeculectomy (TE) and deep sclerectomy (DS) in lowering intraocular pressure (IOP) and thereby preserving visual field and peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) tissue in primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) cases. IOP, number of IOP-lowering medications, visual acuity, mean defect of standard automated perimetry, and mean peripapillary RNFL thickness were retrospectively collected and followed up for 3 years after surgery. TE was performed in 104 eyes and DS in 183 eyes. Age, gender, laterality, IOP, number of medications, visual acuity, perimetry mean defect, and peripapillary RNFL thickness were equally distributed at baseline. Mean IOP decreased from 23.8 ± 1.4 mmHg and 23.1 ± 0.4 mmHg to 13.4 ± 0.6 mmHg (p < 0.001) and 15.4 ± 0.7 mmHg (p = 0.001) in the TE and DS groups, respectively. Mean defect remained stable (TE: -11.5 ± 0.9 dB to -12.0 ± 1.1 (p = 0.090); DS: -10.5 ± 0.9 dB to -11.0 ± 1.0 dB (p = 0.302)), while mean peripapillary RNFL thickness showed further deterioration during follow-up (TE group: 64.4 ± 2.1 μm to 59.7 ± 3.5 μm (p < 0.001); DS group: 64.9 ± 1.9 μm to 58.4 ± 2.1 μm (p < 0.001)). Both TE and DS were comparably effective concerning postoperative reduction in IOP and medication. However, glaucoma disease further progressed during follow-up.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the performance of an intensive, clustered testing approach in identifying eyes with rapid glaucoma progression over 6 months in the Fast Progression Assessment through Clustered Evaluation (Fast-PACE) Study.
METHODS: Prospective cohort study.
METHODS: A total of 125 eyes from 65 primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) subjects.
METHODS: Subjects underwent 2 sets of 5 weekly visits (clusters) separated by an average of 6 months and then were followed with single visits every 6 months for an overall mean follow-up of 25 months (mean of 17 tests). Each visit consisted of testing with standard automated perimetry (SAP) 24-2 and 10-2, and spectral-domain OCT (SD-OCT). Progression was assessed using trend analyses of SAP mean deviation (MD) and retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness. Generalized estimating equations were applied to adjust for correlations between eyes for confidence interval (CI) estimation and hypothesis testing.
METHODS: Diagnostic accuracy of the 6-month clustering period to identify progression detected during the overall follow-up.
RESULTS: A total of 19 of 125 eyes (15%, CI, 9%-24%) progressed based on SAP 24-2 MD over the 6-month clustering period. A total of 14 eyes (11%, CI, 6%-20%) progressed on SAP 10-2 MD, and 16 eyes (13%, CI, 8%-21%) progressed by RNFL thickness, with 30 of 125 eyes (24%, CI, 16%-34%) progressing by function, structure, or both. Of the 35 eyes progressing during the overall follow-up, 25 had progressed during the 6-month clustering period, for a sensitivity of 71% (CI, 53%-85%). Of the 90 eyes that did not progress during the overall follow-up, 85 also did not progress during the 6-month period, for a specificity of 94% (CI, 88%-98%). Of the 14 eyes considered fast progressors by SAP 24-2, SAP 10-2, or SD-OCT during the overall follow-up, 13 were identified as progressing during the 6-month cluster period, for a sensitivity of 93% (CI, 66%-100%) for identifying fast progression with a specificity of 85% (CI, 77%-90%).
CONCLUSIONS: Clustered testing in the Fast-PACE Study detected fast-progressing glaucoma eyes over 6 months. The methodology could be applied in clinical trials investigating interventions to slow glaucoma progression and may be of value for short-term assessment of high-risk subjects.
BACKGROUND: Proprietary or commercial disclosure may be found after the references in the Footnotes and Disclosures at the end of this article.

Our objective was to compare the agreement between virtual reality perimetry (VRP) (order of magnitude, OM) and static automated perimetry (SAP) in various neuro-ophthalmological conditions. We carried out a retrospective analysis of visual field plots of patients with various neuro-ophthalmological conditions who underwent visual field testing using VRP and SAP and between 1 January and 31 May 2022. Two fellowship-trained neuro-ophthalmologists compared the visual field defects observed on both devices. Per cent agreement was used to compare the interpretation of the two examiners on both techniques. The study criteria were met by 160 eyes from 148 patients (mean age 44 years, range 17-74 years). The most common aetiologies were optic atrophy due to various causes, optic neuritis, ischaemic optic neuropathy, and compressive optic neuropathy. Overall, we found good agreement between VRP and SAP for bitemporal (93.8%), hemianopic (90.8%), altitudinal (79.4%), and generalised visual field defects (86.4%). The agreement was acceptable for central/centrocaecal scotomas and not acceptable for enlarged blind spots. Between the two examiners there was good agreement for bitemporal (92.3%), hemianopic (82%), altitudinal (83%), and generalised field defects (76.4%). The results of our study suggest that VRP gives overall good agreement with SAP in various neuro-ophthalmological conditions, especially those likely to produce hemianopic, altitudinal, and generalised visual field defects. This could be useful in various settings; however, future larger studies are needed to explore real-world utilisation.

To determine the extent to which diabetic retinopathy severity stage may be classified using machine learning (ML) and commonly used clinical measures of visual function together with age and sex.
We measured the visual function of 1901 eyes from 1032 participants in the Northern Ireland Sensory Ageing Study, deriving 12 variables from nine visual function tests. Missing values were imputed using chained equations. Participants were divided into four groups using clinical measures and grading of ophthalmic images: no diabetes mellitus (no DM), diabetes but no diabetic retinopathy (DM no DR), diabetic retinopathy without diabetic macular oedema (DR no DMO) and diabetic retinopathy with DMO (DR with DMO). Ensemble ML models were fitted to classify group membership for three tasks, distinguishing (A) the DM no DR group from the no DM group; (B) the DR no DMO group from the DM no DR group; and (C) the DR with DMO group from the DR no DMO group. More conventional multiple logistic regression models were also fitted for comparison. An interpretable ML technique was used to rank the contribution of visual function variables to predictions and to disentangle associations between diabetic eye disease and visual function from artefacts of the data collection process.
The performance of the ensemble ML models was good across all three classification tasks, with accuracies of 0.92, 1.00 and 0.84, respectively, for tasks A-C, substantially exceeding the accuracies for logistic regression (0.84, 0.61 and 0.80, respectively). Reading index was highly ranked for tasks A and B, whereas near visual acuity and Moorfields chart acuity were important for task C. Microperimetry variables ranked highly for all three tasks, but this was partly due to a data artefact (a large proportion of missing values).
Ensemble ML models predicted status of diabetic eye disease with high accuracy using just age, sex and measures of visual function. Interpretable ML methods enabled us to identify profiles of visual function associated with different stages of diabetic eye disease, and to disentangle associations from artefacts of the data collection process. Together, these two techniques have great potential for developing prediction models using untidy real-world clinical data.

If retinal indices of neurodegeneration are to be biomarkers for the monitoring of cerebral neurodegeneration, it is important to establish whether potentially modifiable risk factors for dementia are associated with retinal neurodegenerative changes.
To study associations of dementia risk factors with retinal sensitivity, an index of retinal neural function, and retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness, an index of retinal neural structure.
We used cross-sectional data from The Maastricht Study (up to 5,666 participants, 50.5% men, mean age 59.7), and investigated associations with regression analyses (adjusted for potential confounders).
Most risk factors under study (i.e., hyperglycemia, unhealthy diet, lower cardiorespiratory fitness, smoking, alcohol consumption, and hypertension) were significantly associated with lower retinal sensitivity and lower RNFL thickness.
Findings of this population-based study support the concept that retinal neural indices may be biomarkers for the monitoring of therapeutic strategies that aim to prevent early-stage cerebral neurodegeneration and, ultimately, dementia.

There is a need to improve the diagnostic process of patients suspected of papilledema. In patients with known or suspected idiopathic intracranial hypertension a fundus imaging and perimetric visual field assessment system (COMPASS) performed at a headache center was validated in comparison to an assessment (Topcon plus OCTOPUS) at a neuroophthalmological clinic.
For intermethod assessment, blinded fundus images and perimetry from COMPASS versus Topcon plus OCTOPUS were assessed by a neuroophthalmologist. For interrater assessment, fundus images and perimetry obtained by the COMPASS system were assessed by an untrained medical doctor, a trained neurologist and a trained medical student and compared to the neuroophthalmologist\'s assessments.
For the intermethod variation of the presence of papilledema on fundus images, a kappa value of 0.60, sensitivity of 87% and specificity of 73% were found. The interrater variation of the presence of papilledema on fundus images showed kappa values ranging from 0.43 to 0.74, sensitivity values ranging from 70% to 96% and specificity values ranging from 46% to 93% when comparing the assessments made by the headache center staff with neuroophthalmologist\'s assessments. The COMPASS showed a 59% sensitivity and moderate agreement in detecting visual field defects compared with OCTOPUS. The visual field assessment showed only slight to fair agreement from 0.19 to 0.31 between assessments made by the headache center staff and the neuroophthalmologist.
The COMPASS system can be used with reasonable sensitivity in the assessment of papilledema in patients suspected of idiopathic intracranial hypertension at a tertiary headache center.

BACKGROUND: Glaucoma is a progressive optic neuropathy, characterized by structural optic nerve damage with corresponding field defects. Primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) is the most common. Although perimetry is the gold standard, retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness by spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) has proved reliable in the detection of pre-perimetric glaucoma. There is preferential involvement of various sectors of the peripapillary RNFL in the different stages of POAG.
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study is to assess RNFL thickness and determine preferential involvement of different sectors of peripapillary RNFL in the various stages of POAG using SD-OCT.
METHODS: Forty-nine patients with POAG underwent complete ophthalmic examination including visual field testing and RNFL thickness measurement. Perimetric findings were used to categorize them into mild, moderate, and severe stages of glaucoma. The RNFL thickness values were analyzed and compared with perimetric results.
RESULTS: The average RNFL loss in mild, moderate, and severe POAG was 25.44%, 29.67%, and 44.15%, respectively. A statistically significant correlation (P < 0.05) between RNFL loss and severity of glaucoma was found in all except the superior and temporal sectors. A statistically significant (P < 0.05) negative correlation was noted between visual field index and RNFL loss in all sectors except the nasal-superior in moderate POAG and all sectors in severe POAG. Mean deviation and RNFL loss showed a significant positive correlation in temporal-inferior (TI) sector in mild POAG and all sectors in the severe group.
CONCLUSIONS: RNFL thickness decreases with increase in glaucoma severity and is a reliable parameter to differentiate mild from severe POAG. The TI followed by nasal-inferior RNFL sector is the most sensitive to glaucomatous damage in all three stages.

BACKGROUND: Laguna-ONhE is an application for the colorimetric analysis of optic nerve images, which topographically assesses the cup and the presence of haemoglobin. Its latest version has been fully automated with five deep learning models. In this paper, perimetry in combination with Laguna-ONhE or Cirrus-OCT was evaluated.
METHODS: The morphology and perfusion estimated by Laguna ONhE were compiled into a \"Globin Distribution Function\" (GDF). Visual field irregularity was measured with the usual pattern standard deviation (PSD) and the threshold coefficient of variation (TCV), which analyses its harmony without taking into account age-corrected values. In total, 477 normal eyes, 235 confirmed, and 98 suspected glaucoma cases were examined with Cirrus-OCT and different fundus cameras and perimeters.
RESULTS: The best Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis results for confirmed and suspected glaucoma were obtained with the combination of GDF and TCV (AUC: 0.995 and 0.935, respectively. Sensitivities: 94.5% and 45.9%, respectively, for 99% specificity). The best combination of OCT and perimetry was obtained with the vertical cup/disc ratio and PSD (AUC: 0.988 and 0.847, respectively. Sensitivities: 84.7% and 18.4%, respectively, for 99% specificity).
CONCLUSIONS: Using Laguna ONhE, morphology, perfusion, and function can be mutually enhanced with the methods described for the purpose of glaucoma assessment, providing early sensitivity.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the agreement between glaucomatous 24-2 visual field (VF) testing performed with the Toronto Portable Perimeter (TPP; VEM Medical Technologies) and the Humphrey Field Analyzer (HFA; Carl Zeiss Meditec).
METHODS: Multicenter prospective cohort analysis.
METHODS: Patients with suspected or confirmed glaucoma treated at Prism Eye Institute (Oakville, Canada), York Finch Eye Associates (North York, Canada), or the Ontario Mobile Medical Eye Care Unit (Cochrane, Canada) between March 2019 and March 2020.
METHODS: Patients underwent consecutive VF tests on the same eye using the HFA Swedish Interactive Threshold Algorithm Standard 24-2 test and TPP Standard 24-2 test in randomized order. Bland-Altman analysis and paired t tests were used to compare VF results obtained by the TPP and the HFA. Participants completed a 5-question validated questionnaire after completing both testing methods.
METHODS: Mean difference and degree of agreement in mean deviation (MD), pattern standard deviation (PSD), visual field index (VFI), and test duration between VF modalities.
RESULTS: One hundred fifty eyes from 91 patients were included in analysis. Average MD of the overall cohort using HFA and TPP VF testing was -4.32 ± 5.47 dB and -4.53 ± 5.22 dB, respectively (P = 0.74). Bland-Altman analysis showed good agreement between HFA and TPP tests. The mean differences (95% limits of agreement) between HFA and TPP for MD, PSD, VFI, and test duration were 0.21 dB (-4.25 to 4.67 dB), -0.13 dB (-3.72 to 3.47 dB), 0.66% (-10.94% to 12.26%), and 0.65 seconds (-97.51 to 98.81 seconds), respectively. No statistically significant mean difference was found between HFA and TPP tests for MD, PSD, VFI, or test duration. Mean deviation (R2 = 0.830) and VFI (R2 = 0.866) were correlated strongly with both modalities. Questionnaire results demonstrated that patients significantly preferred the TPP over the HFA for VF testing (P < 0.001).
CONCLUSIONS: Mean deviation, PSD, and VFI outcomes measured by the TPP were statistically similar to corresponding parameters obtained with the HFA. Test time duration did not differ significantly between the TPP and HFA, and patients significantly preferred the TPP to the HFA examination experience. These pilot results suggest that the TPP may offer an accessible alternative to HFA VF testing.