Pattern discrimination perimetry in patients with glaucoma and ocular hypertension

We compared the results of the pattern discrimination perimeter to the program 30-2 on the Humphrey Field Analyzer (Humphrey, Inc., San Leandro, California) in 93 consecutive patients with ocular hypertension and glaucoma and 30 control patients. In 20 patients with ocular hypertension, a significantly greater number of glaucomatous defects were noted on pattern discrimination perimetry (ten patients) than on the program 30-2 (two patients) (P less than .05, Wilcoxon signed rank test). The diversity in diagnoses found on pattern discrimination testing was not explained by age, intraocular pressure, refraction, number of glaucoma medicines, race, presence of vascular disease, optic disk status, or pupil size. In contrast, in 73 patients with glaucoma no statistical difference in the severity of diagnoses was noted between perimeters (P greater than .05, Wilcoxon signed rank test). These results suggest the potential value of pattern discrimination perimetry as a visual function test in patients with glaucoma and in defining subsets of patients with ocular hypertension not found with conventional automated perimetry.