Increased Glaucoma Case-Finding Through Routine Optical Coherence Tomography in Optometry Practice.

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Optometry
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Timely glaucoma detection is crucial for preventing vision loss.
• Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a key technology for assessing optic nerve and retinal changes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate if routine use of OCT by optometrists increases glaucoma referrals to ophthalmologists.
• To assess the impact of OCT on the timely detection of glaucoma.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective review of electronic medical records from 331 Australian optometry practices.
• Comparison of glaucoma referral rates between practices routinely using OCT and those not using OCT.
• Analysis of false positive referral rates in a subset of referred patients.

Main Results:

• Over 994,000 patient records were analyzed, with 1.1% referred for glaucoma assessment.
• Referral rates were higher in OCT practices (1.1%) compared to non-OCT practices (0.8%).
• 21% of referred patients, assessed by ophthalmologists, were considered not to have glaucoma.

Conclusions:

• Routine OCT use by optometrists is associated with a higher likelihood of patient referral for specialist glaucoma management.
• The findings suggest OCT can facilitate earlier glaucoma detection and potentially prevent vision loss.
• Further research may explore optimizing OCT protocols to balance detection rates and referral accuracy.