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Interobserver reliability when using the Van Herick method to measure anterior chamber depth
Ahmed Javed1, Mohamed Loutfi2, Stephen Kaye2
1Department of Ophthalmology, Ninewells Hospital and Medical School, Dundee, DD2 1UB, UK.
Introduction:
The Van Herick method is a quick and easy way to estimate anterior chamber depth, which allows grading of patients according to the likelihood of having primary acute closed-angle glaucoma. However, as the test is highly subjective, measurements and thus grading may vary between observers.
Aim:
The aim of this study was to investigate the degree of variation of Van Herick scores among observers and to investigate agreement between temporal and nasal scores.
Materials And Methods:
A total of 15 observers measured the temporal and nasal Van Herick scores from 18 patients, grouped into cohorts at outpatient glaucoma and corneal clinic. Analysis of data involved assigning a patient to a Van Herick grade based on the median score and then determining the mean standard deviation and percentage consistency for each grade.
Results:
We found that Grades 1 and 4 had a high mean percentage consistency (80% and 84.6%, respectively) and a low mean standard deviation (0.45 and 0.26, respectively). Grades 2 and 3 had low mean percentage consistencies (57.5 and 5, respectively) and high mean standard deviations (0.71 and 0.89, respectively). The temporal and nasal scores showed good agreement (κ = 0.61P < 0.001).
Conclusion:
The Van Herick score has a good interobserver reliability for Grades 1 and 4; however, Grades 2 and 3 require further tests such as gonioscopy or ocular coherence tomography. Temporal and nasal scores demonstrated good agreement; therefore, if the nasal score cannot be measured due to nasal bridge size, the temporal can be used as an approximation.
