Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Glaucoma Staging and Progression (GSP) is the latest software enhancement available for all visual field devices produced by OCULUS Optikgeraete GmbH (Wetzlar/Germany). The upgrade provides practitioners additional help in early recognition of glaucoma threat, solely
based on findings contained in the visual field map.
The novelty of GSP derives from its ability to extract information from patient luminance sensitivity data way beyond the standard statistical parameters commonly summarized in global indices. To achieve this, advanced pattern recognition methods have been implemented; in particular support vector machines were trained to provide multi-level classifications into visual field and glaucoma diagnosis classes. The software models using over 2200 patient records were created with support of glaucoma experts from Doheny Eye Institute and Department of Ophthalmology, Keck School of Medicine, USC.
GSP is seamlessly integrated in the familiar user interface of Oculus perimeters. A single mouse-click displays the probability bar chart for visual field classes as well as the risks bar chart of all the glaucoma diagnosis classes included in the hierarchy. The striking novelty of GSP is displayed by the presence of "Suspect" and "Pre-perimetric" classes, making possible to discern subtle changes in the visual field associated with early stages of glaucoma. Intuitive Green-Yellow-Red color coding guides the examiner in his assessment of the results. A quantitative overview of the charts is given by the weighted average of the diagnostic class probabilities. The Glaucoma Likelihood Index (GLI) is a convenient way to summarize the glaucoma diagnostic classification results in a single parameter, assuming values from 0 (normal) to 5 (severe glaucoma).
