Reduced recovery of temporal contrast sensitivity after flicker stress in patients with glaucoma

Purpose: To compare recovery of temporal contrast sensitivity after flicker stress between control subjects and patients with glaucoma. Methods: Forty-three patients with primary open-angle glaucoma and secondar y open-angle or normal-tension glaucoma of the Erlangen Glaucoma Registry a nd 30 healthy control subjects had their temporal contrast sensitivity meas ured at 37 Nz and their recovery time determined after monocular exposure t o 30 seconds of 58% contrast full-field flicker. Recovery time of temporal contrast sensitivity was measured as the time interval from cessation of fl icker until twice the threshold value was reached. Results: Patients with glaucoma had a significant reduction in temporal con trast sensitivity (P < 0.001). Recovery time was also significantly longer in patients with glaucoma (23.8 +/- 24.1 seconds) than in control subjects (7.6 +/- 2.6 seconds; P < 0.001). There was a significant positive correlat ion between recovery time and mean visual field defect (0.5; P < 0.001) and a significant negative correlation between recovery time and neuroretinal rim area of the optic disc (0.32; P = 0.04). Conclusions: Recovery of temporal contrast sensitivity after flicker stress is impaired in some patients with glaucoma. This might be the result of fu nctional impairment of the inner retina, outer retina, or both in glaucoma.