Concordance of high-pass resolution perimetry and frequency-doubling technology perimetry results in glaucoma: no support for selective ganglion cell damage

Abstract

Purpose: To compare the results of frequency-doubling technology perimetry (FDT), assumed to test the magnocellular visual pathway, and high-pass resolution perimetry (HRP), assumed to test the parvocellular visual pathway, in patients with ocular hypertension or glaucoma.

Patients and methods: Forty-eight consecutive patients with glaucoma or ocular hypertension, covering the entire range of optic nerve function from normal to severely damaged, were examined on the same day using FDT and HRP.

Results: There was a linear correlation between both global and local indices in FDT and HRP (r = -0.84 P<0.0001 and r = 0.8 P<0.001, respectively). The HRP and FDT classifications agreed in 32 of the 48 (67%) eyes (Cohen kappa = 0.5). There was no significant difference between the ability of the different techniques to detect abnormality.

Conclusion: The observations in the present study indicate either that both cell populations are similarly affected by glaucomatous damage or that both methods measure activity in the same cell populations.