PURPOSE: Perimetry using size I and III targets was conducted on glaucoma patients. The detectability of the visual field defects using a size I target and abnormal spatial summation was investigated.SUBJECTS & METHODS: Subjects were 14 eyes of 11 glaucoma patients with mild to moderate visual field defects and 11 eyes of 11 normal persons. Program 24-2 of the Humphrey Field Analyzer was applied to each subject. Based on the mean sensitivity and standard deviation at each coordinate in normal persons, the Z-score was calculated in the visual fields of glaucoma patients (absolute scotomas were excluded).RESULTS: The mean Z-score of retinal sensitivity, was less for size III than for size I in abnormal lesions, and less for size I than for size III in normal lesions (paired t-test, p < 0.01). Pathological spatial summation was found more frequently in normal lesions than in abnormal lesions.CONCLUSIONS: In mild visual field defects, size I detects abnormalities with greater sensitivity than size III. Perimetry using the size I target can be effective as a supplementary diagnostic method to detect and follow the early glaucomatous visual field.
Glaucoma Humans