Glaucoma: May new technologies help in early diagnosis?

Purpose: to identify new functional parameters that may help in the early primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) diagnosis. Materials and Methods: 40 subjects were enrolled: 20 healthy subjects and 20 POAG patients, all aged between 30 and 65 years, for a total of 79 eyes, including 40 healthy and 39 POAG. All subjects underwent microperimetric test, Nidek MP-1 (NAVIS, software version 1.7.6; Nidek Technologies, Japan) using Humphrey 10-2 pattern with manual polygonize of upper and lower hemifi elds. Mean hemifi eld sensitivity was evaluated. Results: Analysis reported signifi cant differences of mean retinal sensitivity of the upper hemifi elds between POAG and healthy subjects (p < 0.025), thus highly signifi cant. Equally signifi cant (p < 0.025) was the comparison of ratio (upper / lower hemifi eld) between the two groups. There was not statistically signifi cant difference of sensitivity of lower hemifi elds (p> 0.05). Conclusion: signifi cant difference was observed between healthy and POAG groups using Humphrey 10-2 vertical asymmetry index. Therefore, it appears to be an unprecedented microperimetric diagnostic tool.