SITA visual field testing in children.

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Visual field testing
• Pediatric neurology

Background:

• The Swedish Interactive Thresholding Algorithm (SITA) is a Humphrey perimeter testing strategy known to shorten test times in adults.
• Its efficacy in pediatric populations, particularly for detecting visual field defects, remains uninvestigated.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the usefulness of the standard SITA 24-2 visual field testing strategy in children.
• To compare SITA with full threshold testing (FTT) in pediatric patients with optic neuropathies.

Main Methods:

• Evaluated 92 SITA 24-2 visual fields and 49 FTT 24-2 visual fields in children with various optic neuropathies.
• Compared outcome measures including foveal threshold, mean defect, pattern standard deviation, error rates, and test duration.
• Included a subset of 5 children who underwent both SITA and FTT.

Main Results:

• SITA reduced test time by over 50% compared to FTT (6.6 +/- 1.6 minutes vs. 12.6 +/- 3.0 minutes, P <.00001).
• SITA demonstrated lower pattern standard deviation in subjects with normal fields, indicating reduced intratest variability.
• No significant differences were found in other outcome measures; subjective analysis showed similar gray-scale field interpretations.

Conclusions:

• SITA significantly shortens visual field test time in children without compromising interpretability.
• SITA's lower intratest variability suggests it is advantageous for detecting and monitoring visual field defects.
• Consistent use of the same visual field testing strategy is recommended for accurate defect tracking.