Strategies for improving the diagnostic specificity of the frequency doubling perimeter

Abstract

To evaluate various strategies designed to improve the specificity of the interpretation of results obtained with the frequency doubling technology perimeter (FDT) used in the full-threshold mode. Three different strategies were compared using data from 452 glaucoma patients and 237 healthy subjects: combining several FDT parameters from a single test, combining the FDT test with a GDx test, and confirming an abnormal FDT test result with a repeat test. Confirming an abnormal FDT test result with a repeat test yielded a specificity increase of 0.10, from 0.80 to 0.90, at the expense of some loss of sensitivity for early but not for moderate or severe glaucoma. Combining several FDT parameters from a single test and combining FDT with GDx did not yield any noticeable increase in diagnostic performance. A modest increase in FDT diagnostic performance can be obtained by the confirmation of an abnormal test result with a repeat test.