Operator-adjusted disc-definition is successful method of glaucoma detection

A recent study featured in the Journal of Glaucoma claims that operator-adjusted disc-definition is ideal for glaucoma detection when using the RTVue-100 Fourier-domain optical coherence tomograph.

An investigation led by Professor Gábor Holló et al., Semmelweis University, Hungary, evaluated the repeatability and between-method differences of optic nerve head, retinal nerve fibre layer thickness (RNFLT) measurements with the RTVue-100 Fourier-domain OCT.

All 3 disc-definition functions were used on one eye of each 126 patients. This included 72 glaucomatous, 10 ocular hypertensive and 44 healthy control eyes. To calculate measurement repeatability 33 eyes were imaged 5 times.

The findings suggested that automatic disc-definition was significantly poorer than other methods. Repeatability was matched between manual and operator-adjusted methods in all but one parameter. Refractive error, disease category or peripapillary atrophy had no effect on repeatability. Parameters measured with manual and operator-adjusted methods demonstrated high intraclass correlation (93.5% to 99.9%).

Manual and operator-adjusted disc-definition functions have similar measurement repeatability and are not influenced by refractive error, glaucoma or parapapillary atrophy. It was reported that the RTVue-100 Fourier-domain OCT method is effective in the detection of glaucoma and has high intraclass correlation.