Assessment methods of visual field defects of patients with glaucoma

Glaucoma is a common eye disease which may cause irreversible blindness.This ocular degenerative disease affects retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) and eventually causes optic nerve dysfunction by way of axonal loss.Patients with glaucoma may show characteristic changes of optic disc,damages of visual field and impairment of vision.Detection and evaluation of the impairment of visual field in patients with glaucoma are essential for the diagnosis and estimation of progression of this disease.Numerous techniques have been developed to detect field progression,but no standard has been widely accepted.Assessment Methods including visual field indices,glaucoma hemifield test (GHT),Advanced Glaucoma Intervention Study (AGIS),Early Manifest Glaucoma Trial (EMGT),Collaborative Initial Glaucoma Treatment Study(CIGTS),as well as the strength and limitation of each method were reviewed in this article in order to find out suitable ways to evaluate visual field defects in patients with glaucoma in clinical works and researches. Key words: Glaucoma;  Visual field defect;  Assessment