This prospective study evaluated 32 eyes with glaucoma from 31 participants that had “deep” VF defects, in which “deep” was defined as having at least one location on the PD plot less than or equal to −15 dB when VF testing was performed using either the Swedish Interactive Threshold Algorithm (SITA) standard 24-2 or 10-2 testing strategy on a Humphrey Field Analyzer II-I (Carl Zeiss Meditec, Inc., Dublin, CA, USA). The eyes were among a larger group of 204 eyes that had abnormal or suspicious appearing discs, mean deviation (MD) values better than −6 dB on 24-2 VF testing, and spherical refractive errors within ± 6D. Of these 204 eyes, 87 were judged to have glaucomatous damage by two glaucoma specialists based upon optic disc stereo-photographs, 24-2 and 10-2 VFs, an inner retinal report based upon a single wide-field OCT scan (described in detail in a previous study20), and other clinical information (including family history of glaucoma, history of intraocular surgery, and IOP and corneal thickness measurements). Of these 87 eyes, 34 had deep VF defects as described above, and two were excluded due to lack of recent VF testing.
This study was approved by the institutional review boards of Columbia University and New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai and followed the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. Written informed consent was obtained from all the participants in this study following an explanation of all test procedures.