Automated kinetic perimetry: an efficient method of evaluating peripheral visual field loss

This paper describes a technique for performing automated kinetic perimetry of the peripheral visual field. The test algorithm incorporates optimal stimulus parameters for kinetic perimetry, a priori information about age-related normal visual field properties, exploratory data sampling procedures, and real-time decision-making processes designed to make the test adaptive, efficient, and interactive. Preliminary testing in 100 eyes (twenty normal eyes, forty eyes with glaucomatous visual field loss, and forty eyes with neuro-ophthalmologic deficits) revealed good qualitative correspondence between automated and manual kinetic perimetry in about 77% of the cases. Another 15% of the automated kinetic perimetry results were very difficult to interpret and 8% revealed findings of no clinical value. Our results suggest that automated kinetic perimetry can provide an efficient means of testing the peripheral visual field, although current test procedures must be refined before they can be regarded as useful reliable clinical tools.