[Dependence of the sensitivity of the central visual field on hemoglobin-oxygen saturation]

Retinal function is very sensitive to changes in hemoglobin oxygen saturation. Characteristic ophthalmological symptoms of oxygen deficiency are: changes in color perception, visual field defect, eye flickering, reduction of visual acuity, seeing double images, defects in neural image interpretation. To test the dependency of changes in the central visual field sensitivity on different degrees of oxygen saturation, 48 probands (48 monocular tests) 20-50 years of age were examined in the altitude simulation chamber of the Aviation Medicine Institute of German Air Force at zero altitude (= 500 m) and at 10,000 ft (ca. 3,500 m height). Three types of experiments were performed: determination of abnormal quotient using a Heidelberg anomaloscope; determination of changes in color vision by saturated and disaturated panel D-15 test; determination of differences in light sensitivity for white, red, blue and green light by a threshold test using a Humphrey Field Analyzer (640) as perimeter. At zero level (500 m) hemoglobin-oxygen saturation was 97% +/- 1%. At 10,000 ft this value decreased to 83% +/- 3%. Hypoxic hypoxia caused neither significant AQ changes nor did it induce reproducible changes in color vision by the panel D-15 test. However, anoxia resulted in significant (P < 0.01) differences in light sensitivity in phototopic range.