CORRELATION OF PATTERN-DISCRIMINATION PERIMETRY TO THE OPTIC DISC ANDVISUAL-FIELD IN OCULAR HYPERTENSIVE AND CHRONIC OPEN-ANGLE GLAUCOMA PATIENTS

We evaluated 19 ocular hypertensive and 32 chronic open-angle glaucoma patients to determine the correlation of pattern discrimination field loss to known markers of glaucomatous damage on the visual field and the optic nerve head. This study found no statistical association of t he findings on the pattern discrimination perimeter to the areas of th e optic disc, peripapillary halo, peripapillary atrophy, neural rim, o r cup/pallor discrepancy (P > 0.05). In addition, no statistical relat ionship was observed to the diameters of the largest vein or artery in the inferior- or superior-temporal quadrant adjacent to the optic dis c (P > 0.05). Between pattern discrimination and automated perimetry n o agreement was observed in any visual field cluster (Glaucoma Hemifie ld Test) greater than that expected by chance alone (P > 0.05). When b oth visual function tests disagreed, the proportion of abnormal diagno ses in any cluster did not differ statistically between tests in chron ic open-angle glaucoma patients (P > 0.05). However, in ocular hyperte nsive patients a greater proportion of abnormal diagnoses was observed with pattern discrimination perimetry (P < 0.03). This study suggests that pattern discrimination perimetry appears to measure a different physiologic property of the retina than does automated perimetry.