Patterns of visual field changes in thyroid eye disease.

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Neurology

Background:

• Thyroid eye disease-compressive optic neuropathy (TED-CON) can cause significant visual impairment.
• Understanding visual field changes is crucial for diagnosis and management.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically describe visual field defects in patients with TED-CON.
• To identify the most common patterns of visual field loss in TED-CON.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective chart review of 68 patients with TED-CON.
• Analysis of 96 Humphrey Visual Field 24-2 or 30-2 tests.
• Classification of visual fields into broad categories and Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study (OHTS) patterns.

Main Results:

• 55% of visual fields showed an inferior defect.
• The most common OHTS patterns were 'other' (28%) and partial arcuate (28%).
• Inferior defects predominated across most categories, constituting 67% of the most common patterns.

Conclusions:

• Inferior visual field defect is the most typical visual field change associated with TED-CON.
• Existing classification systems (like OHTS) may not fully capture TED-CON visual field patterns.
• A tailored classification system for TED-CON visual field defects is warranted.