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1 From the Optics and Visual Assessment Laboratory, Department of Ophthalmology, University of California, Davis; and 2 Discoveries in Sight Research Laboratories, Devers Eye Institute, Legacy Health Systems, Portland, Oregon. This work was performed while CAJ was in the Department of Ophthalmology, University of California, Davis.
| Abstract |
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METHODS. Monocular and binocular visual fields were obtained for 111 patients with varying degrees of glaucomatous damage in one or both eyes, using the Humphrey 30-2 full-threshold procedure. Four binocular sensitivity prediction models were evaluated: BEST EYE, predictions based on individual values for the most sensitive eye, defined by mean deviation (MD); AVERAGE EYE, predictions based on the average sensitivity between eyes at each visual field location; BEST LOCATION, predictions based on the highest sensitivity between eyes at each visual field location; and BINOCULAR SUMMATION, predictions based on binocular summation of sensitivity between eyes at each location. Differences between actual and predicted binocular sensitivities were calculated for each model.
RESULTS. The average difference between predicted and actual binocular sensitivities was close to zero for the BINOCULAR SUMMATION and BEST LOCATION models, with 95% of all predictions being within ±3 dB of actual binocular sensitivities. The best eye (MD) prediction had an average error of 1.5 dB (95% confidence limits [CL], ±3.7 dB). The average eye prediction was the poorest, with an average error of 3.7 dB (95% CL, ±4.6 dB).
CONCLUSIONS. The BINOCULAR SUMMATION and BEST LOCATION models provided better predictions of binocular visual field sensitivity than the other two models, with a statistically significant difference in performance. The small difference in performance between the BINOCULAR SUMMATION and BEST LOCATION models was not statistically significant. For evaluations of functional visual field influences on task performance, daily activities, and related quality-of-life issues, either the BINOCULAR SUMMATION or BEST LOCATION model provides good estimates of binocular visual field sensitivity.
| Introduction |
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Several investigators have reported deficits in binocular visual threshold measures such as stereoacuity and spatial and temporal contrast sensitivity in glaucoma,10 11 although these findings were obtained for central vision in patients with good visual acuity in both eyes (20/30 or better).
For most patients with glaucoma, there are considerable differences in the location, shape, size, and severity of visual field sensitivity loss between eyes. Localized regions of visual field loss for each eye sometimes overlap and sometimes do not. It is difficult to predict how two disparate, inhomogeneous visual fields will be combined by higher visual centers to produce a single functional binocular visual field. To understand the relationship between glaucomatous visual field loss and quality-of-life factors, an accurate representation of the binocular visual field is needed.12 In particular, daily activities involving driving and mobility skills are dependent on the status of the binocular visual field.9 10 There are also significant implications for binocular visual field characteristics and disability determinations. However, clinical perimetry is performed for each eye separately, and perimeters are not designed to perform binocular visual field testing. An accurate method of predicting binocular visual field sensitivity from monocular visual field test results would therefore be desirable.
For many psychophysical tests, it has been shown that binocular
sensitivity can be predicted from the monocular sensitivity of each eye
according to a binocular summation model.1
2
3
4
5
Depending on
the specific model used for binocular summation, a 25% to 40%
improvement in sensitivity is predicted for binocular viewing compared
with monocular viewing,1
2
3
4
5
assuming that the
sensitivities of the two eyes are similar. One common form of the
probability summation model is one that assumes that binocular
sensitivity can be predicted by the square root of the summed squares
of the two monocular sensitivities (quadratic summation)i.e.,
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This model predicts that binocular sensitivity is approximately 1.4 times (40%) better than individual monocular sensitivities, assuming that the monocular sensitivities are equal. The larger the difference in sensitivity between eyes, the more the predicted binocular sensitivity approximates the value of the most sensitive eye. The lower the sensitivity of the worst eye, the less it contributes to binocular sensitivity. The improvement in binocular sensitivity over the best monocular sensitivity can be as high as 40% if both eyes have equal sensitivity, or as low as 0% if one eye has no sensitivity.
Based on foveal stereoacuity and binocular contrast sensitivity deficits reported for patients with glaucoma,10 11 it could be alternatively proposed that binocular summation in patients with glaucoma does not occur, because at least one eye is impaired. Rather, it could be assumed that for corresponding visual field locations, the most sensitive of the two visual field locations between eyes would determine binocular sensitivity. The binocular visual field would therefore be a composite of the most sensitive of the two visual field locations for each eye. For suprathreshold testing, this model was adopted by Crabb et al.7 We refer to this as the BEST LOCATION model.
A third model has been used for investigating the relationship between visual field sensitivity and quality-of-life assessments.12 These studies assume that the eye with better overall visual field sensitivity, as determined by mean deviation (MD), determines the binocular visual field properties of patients with glaucoma. It was found that the MD of the better eye correlated better with quality-of-life measures than the MD of the worse eye.12 We refer to this as the BEST EYE model. MD was selected as the basis for the BEST EYE model, because it is generally used to characterize the overall severity of glaucomatous visual field loss.
A final possibility is that the binocular visual field sensitivity represents an averaging of sensitivity of the two eyes at each visual field location. This would be similar in concept to the Levelt luminance-averaging model, except that he was applying it to binocular summation of suprathreshold stimuli (brightness).1 We refer to this as the AVERAGE EYE model.
Our purpose was to evaluate these four models to determine the best method of predicting binocular visual field sensitivity from monocular visual field information in patients with glaucoma.
| Materials and Methods |
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MD for both eyes of the patients with glaucoma ranged between +3.3 dB and -29.7 dB. Some patients had similar amounts of sensitivity loss between eyes, whereas others had large differences in sensitivity between eyes. The degree of overlap for regions of sensitivity loss between eyes varied considerably among patients, as did the magnitude of sensitivity loss for overlapping regions. By selecting a heterogeneous sample of patients with glaucoma, we were able to evaluate the performance of the four prediction models over the entire spectrum of glaucomatous damage.
All visual field tests were conducted using a Humphrey Field Analyzer (San Leandro, CA) performing a 30-2 full-threshold test procedure. The 30-2 stimulus presentation pattern consists of 76 locations within the central 30° in a 6° grid bracketing the horizontal and vertical meridians. Monocular testing was performed according to standard procedures, with an optimal lens correction placed before the eye to be tested and a translucent eye patch placed over the nontested eye. The translucent eye patch attenuated the background luminance by approximately 0.3 log units (3 dB) for the nontested eye. Patients wore a modified pediatric trial frame (half frames) with the optimal lens correction placed before each eye for binocular testing. The modified trial frame minimized the likelihood that the trial frame and lenses obstructed the field of view of one or both eyes during testing. It was adjusted to account for differences in interpupillary distance so that the trial lenses were properly centered for each eye. The same visual field locations were examined for all tests.
During binocular testing, patients were aligned to the perimeter by adjusting the vertical head position, alternately aligning the center of both pupils, and then adjusting the horizontal position to the bridge of the nose. This precluded the ability to monitor fixation during binocular visual field testing. However, all patients had undergone at least two previous visual field examinations, and patients with a history of poor fixation were excluded from the study. Both monocular and binocular visual field data were collected during the same visit, with rest periods of at least 15 minutes between tests. Periodic short rest breaks during a test procedure were provided to patients as needed.
Four binocular visual field sensitivity prediction models were
evaluated: BEST EYE, in which binocular visual field
sensitivity was predicted by the eye with the best overall sensitivity,
defined by MD; BEST LOCATION, in which binocular visual field
sensitivity was predicted to be the most sensitive of the two visual
field locations between eyes for corresponding visual field points;
AVERAGE EYE, in which binocular visual field sensitivity was predicted
to be the average sensitivity of the two eyes for corresponding visual
field points; and BINOCULAR SUMMATION, in which binocular visual field
sensitivity was predicted by probability summation of the sensitivities
of the two eyes according to the following equation:
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For each of the four models, the difference between predicted and actual binocular sensitivities was determined for corresponding visual field locations. The average difference between predicted and actual binocular sensitivities was then determined for each patient using the four prediction models. Foveal sensitivities and different visual field eccentricities were also examined individually.
| Results |
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We individually evaluated the fovea and different visual field eccentricities to determine whether there were any differences in performance of the models for different locations and found that our results for the entire visual field also held true for individual visual field locations. We also evaluated whether there was evidence of binocular summation greater than the 1.4 probability summation value. The average summation value was 1.33 ± 0.59 (SD) for the fovea, 1.32 ± 0.66 for locations inside 10°, 1.42 ± 0.51 for locations between 10° and 20°, and 1.51 ± 0.61 for locations between 20° and 30°. These small differences were not statistically significant.
Individual examples of good and poor predictions are shown in the results for the BINOCULAR SUMMATION model, because it produced the best and most consistent performance. Figure 1 shows a good binocular prediction for a patient with little or no visual field loss in each eye. The top graph presents the gray-scale representations and numeric dB values for monocular visual fields obtained for the left and right eyes. The binocular visual field results are presented in the center. The lower left graph is a scatterplot of predicted binocular sensitivity plotted as a function of actual binocular sensitivity for all 76 visual field locations. The diagonal line represents perfect correspondence between the two. The lower right graph is a histogram of the difference scores (actual minus predicted binocular sensitivity) for all 76 visual field locations. It can be observed that actual binocular sensitivities were close to the predicted values.
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| Discussion |
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The present findings have significance for relationships among visual function measures, task performance, and quality-of-life measures in patients with glaucoma. Because visual field loss is the most prevalent and characteristic form of visual function loss associated with glaucoma, its relationship to quality-of-life measures12 and performance of everyday tasks13 14 has been a topic of increasing interest. One difficulty in evaluating the influence of visual field loss on task performance and quality-of-life measures is selecting an appropriate visual field measure. Ideally, it would be best to measure binocular visual sensitivity in patients with glaucoma to provide the most accurate representation of the patients functional visual field that they normally use. However, clinical instruments for testing the visual field perform monocular testing and are not designed to perform binocular visual field testing. This means that either a custom device must be constructed or a clinical device must be used in a nonconventional manner. In either case, no standard protocols, normative databases, or analysis procedures are available. The present study shows that the BINOCULAR SUMMATION and BEST LOCATION models can accurately predict binocular visual field sensitivity from monocular visual field results. This means that the visual field information normally collected for disease management can be used. Because more than 95% of the cases are within 3 dB for each technique, either method should be more than adequate for assessing the role of the binocular functional visual field in relation to driving, activities of daily living, and other quality-of-life issues, as well as for determination of disability in glaucoma.
Finally, we noted that in many instances, the appearance of the binocular visual field of patients with glaucoma was better than expected on the basis of observation of the monocular visual fields alone. This is in part because glaucomatous visual field loss only occasionally overlaps for corresponding locations in the two eyes, the degree of overlap is often partial, and the degree of sensitivity loss is often asymmetric between the two eyes. It is also partly because it is difficult to visually extract the best sensitivity locations from each eye and mentally combine them into a composite image. A method of generating an accurate representation of the binocular visual field from monocular visual field data may be useful for clinicians in assessing whether patients are likely to encounter difficulties with driving, mobility skills, and other everyday tasks.
| Footnotes |
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Submitted for publication July 15, 1999; revised January 26, 2000; accepted February 10, 2000.
Commercial relationships policy: N.
Corresponding author: Chris A. Johnson, Discoveries in Sight, Devers Eye Institute, Legacy Clinical Research and Technology Center, 1225 NE Second Avenue, PO Box 3950, Portland, OR 97208-3950. cajohnso{at}discoveriesinsight.org
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