Evaluation of the Consistency of Glaucomatous Visual Field Defects Using a Clustered SITA-Faster Protocol

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Visual Neuroscience
• Medical Technology

Background:

• SITA-Faster (SFR) visual fields (VF) offer repeatable perimetric data efficiently.
• Evaluating pointwise VF defects in glaucoma patients transitioning from SITA-Standard (SS) requires reliable methods.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the outcomes of using frontloaded SFR for evaluating pointwise VF defects in glaucoma patients.
• To compare the consistency of VF defects using sequential SFR tests versus a single SS test.

Main Methods:

• Prospective, cross-sectional study involving 144 eyes of 91 glaucoma patients.
• Two SFR tests (T1, T2) were performed per eye on the same visit.
• Comparison of global sensitivity, reliability indices, and pointwise deviation map probabilities across SS, SFR1, and SFR2 tests.

Main Results:

• No significant difference in mean deviation (MD) was found across SS, SFR1, and SFR2 tests.
• Frontloaded SFR confirmed existing SS defects in 62.3% of locations and revealed new repeatable defects in 5.4%.
• Test duration significantly decreased with SFR (158-160 seconds) compared to SS (379 seconds), with equivalent reliability.

Conclusions:

• Frontloading SFR tests yields repeatable data for assessing glaucoma pattern deviation defects without test fatigue.
• This approach offers comparable reliability and duration to a single SS test.
• Frontloading SFR can enhance testing frequency for glaucoma progression analysis.