The relationship between standard automated perimetry and GDx VCC measurements

PURPOSE: To investigate the relationship between retinal light sensitivity measured with standard automated perimetry (SAP) and retardation of the peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) measured with the GDx VCC (Laser Diagnostic Technologies, Inc., San Diego, CA).

METHODS: Forty-seven healthy subjects and 101 patients with glaucoma were examined with SAP and with the commercially available scanning laser polarimeter GDx VCC, with automated individualized compensation of anterior segment birefringence. Individual visual field test points and peripapillary RNFL retardation measurements were grouped into six corresponding sectors. The correlation between perimetry and GDx VCC measurements was determined, and the relationship between RNFL retardation and perimetry, expressed both in the standard decibel scale and in an unlogged scale, was described with linear regression analysis.

RESULTS: A statistically significant correlation was found in most sectors between perimetry and GDx VCC measurements in patients with glaucoma, but not in healthy subjects. A linear relationship was found between the unlogged sensitivities and GDx VCC measurements for the superotemporal and inferotemporal sectors. In the decibel scale, this relationship was curvilinear.

CONCLUSIONS: GDx VCC measurements of the peripapillary RNFL relate well with functional loss in glaucoma. Based on the observed relationships between function and structure, patients with mild to moderate visual field loss in glaucoma may be better monitored with the GDx VCC and patients who have severe loss, with SAP.