First Experience with the Heidelberg Edge Perimeter® on Patients with Ocular Hypertension and Preperimetric Glaucoma

Background: The white-on-white computerised static perimetry is not very sensitive to detect a beginning visual field loss. A newer technique to test the central visual field with a flicker defined form technology (FDF) is the Heidelberg Edge Perimeter (R) (HEP). Patients and Methods: A study with 90 eyes from 50 patients (mean age 59 +/- 14 years) with ocular hypertension and/or optic nerve suspicious for glaucoma without detectable visual field loss in the Octopus (R) perimetry (Program dG-2) with the Heidelberg Edge Perimeter (R) was performed. The "mean defect" (MD), the "pattern standard deviation" and the glaucoma hemifield test (GHT) were calculated and compared with the indices of the Octopus (R). Results: Despite normal visual field findings in the Octopus (R) perimetry (MD < 2.0 dB) we detected in 48 out of 90 eyes (53 %) pathological visual fields in the HEP examination. Conclusions: As a new research method the Heidelberg Edge perimetry (R) seems to be more sensitive than conventional static perimetry in early detection of visual field alterations in patients between ocular hypertension and incipient glaucoma.