There is a need for simpler methods to assess sensitivity at different visual field locations. In a recent paper in the journal Translational Vision Sciences and Technology, Anne Vrijling and colleagues show that detecting the presence of glaucomatous visual field loss, and determining disease stage can become as simple as watching a moving dot (a ‘stip’ in Dutch). The overall conclusion is that continuous visual stimulus tracking is an easy, fast, and intuitive technique that has the potential for diagnostic applications in detection of new glaucoma cases and monitoring of previously diagnosed cases. This new method, which uses eye tracking to collect patient responses, promises much easier and accessible visual field measurements in ophthalmic and vision rehabilitation contexts. The study was carried out as part of the Promise project, a collaboration between UMCG, Royal Dutch Visio, the University of Groningen and Reyedar. Want to know more? You can find the paper here.
The figure shows how well patients with various visual field sensitivities are able to track a moving dot on the screen. With higher contrast, this becomes easier. By doing assessments at different stimulus contrasts, it is possible to detect the presence of glaucomatous visual field loss, and determine disease stage, e.g. during follow-up.
The experimental setup used in the present study. The eye tracker is situated just below the screen, which also shows the ‘dot’ (stip). Check out the website of Reyedar to see what a future commercially available version suitable for clinical use will look like.