Abstract

Visual field impairment affects more than 100 million people globally. However, due to the lack of the access to appropriate ophthalmic healthcare in undeveloped regions as a result of associated costs and expertise this number may be an underestimate. Improved access to affordable diagnostic software designed for visual field examination could slow the progression of diseases, such as glaucoma, allowing for early diagnosis and intervention. We have developed Specvis, a free and open-source application written in Java programming language that can run on any personal computer to meet this requirement (http://www.specvis.pl/). Specvis was tested on glaucomatous, retinitis pigmentosa and stroke patients and the results were compared to results using the Medmont M700 Automated Static Perimeter. The application was also tested for inter-test intrapersonal variability. The results from both validation studies indicated low inter-test intrapersonal variability, and suitable reliability for a fast and simple assessment of visual field impairment. Specvis easily identifies visual field areas of zero sensitivity and allows for evaluation of its levels throughout the visual field. Thus, Specvis is a new, reliable application that can be successfully used for visual field examination and can fill the gap between confrontation and perimetry tests. The main advantages of Specvis over existing methods are its availability (free), affordability (runs on any personal computer), and reliability (comparable to high-cost solutions).

Highlights

  • The main causes of human visual field impairment include cataracts, glaucoma, age related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, and stroke

  • The minimum stimulus luminance used for the glaucomatous patient no. 4 and for retinitis pigmentosa and stroke patients with Specvis was equal to 3.64 cd/m2 or 16.28 dB, where the same dB value in Medmont M700 Automated Static Perimeter (MM700) corresponds to 7.49 cd/m2

  • In the case of glaucomatous patients, in MM700 the density of stimulus locations in the first 10 ̊ from the fixation point was higher than in more distant areas and stimuli locations were radially arranged from the fixation point

Read more

Summary

Introduction

The main causes of human visual field impairment include cataracts, glaucoma, age related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, and stroke (for review see [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]). These conditions may lead permanently to partial and/or complete blindness. Due to limited access to ophthalmic healthcare and its associated costs, especially in developing countries where existing visual field examination methods are rudimentary, it’s highly likely that the number of future patients has been.

Objectives
Results
Conclusion
Full Text
Published version (Free)

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call