Assessment of visual field progression in glaucoma

Perimetry plays an important role in the diagnosis and management of glaucoma. This article discusses the assessment of visual field progression in patients with glaucoma.

Selecting the best visual field test strategy and establishing a baseline of visual fields will assist clinicians in the detection of glaucomatous progression. Repeat testing serves to confirm or refute changes on visual field testing. More frequent testing after initial diagnosis is recommended to establish a baseline and to identify patients with rapid progression who may need more aggressive management. Statistically significant changes on event analysis can prompt examination of a patient's trend analysis to determine whether clinically significant deterioration may be occurring. Future applications of machine learning can complement existing methods of visual field interpretation.

Many treated patients with glaucoma will experience visual field progression. Optimal utilization of visual field testing strategy and analytical software can help clinicians identify patients with glaucomatous progression likely to cause functional visual disability.