Sensitivity and Specificity of the Uniform Field ERG in Glaucoma Detection

Abstract

Glaucoma is a silent disease, and by the time patients are diagnosed, there is a significant vision loss, and the clinicians are left to deal with monitoring the disease progression. Therefore, early glaucoma detection would be the ultimate goal for researchers as well as clinicians. This study assessed the sensitivity and specificity of pattern electroretinography (PERG) and uniform field electroretinography (UF-ERG) in detecting glaucomatous changes using the Diagnosys D-341 Attaché-Envoy Electrophysiology System. One hundred eyes of 50 glaucoma patients, including 42 glaucoma-suspect eyes, and 58 confirmed glaucoma eyes went through ophthalmic examination including PERG, UF-ERG (to measure the photopic negative response (PhNR)), Optical coherence tomography (OCT), and standard automated perimetry (SAP). The results were compared to 72 eyes of 36 healthy control subjects. PERG and PhNR parameters showed a significant decrease in the amplitude and longer latency in glaucoma suspects and glaucoma groups compared to the control group. The PhNR amplitude was more sensitive at detecting glaucomatous changes in the glaucoma suspect group than the PERG in terms of low amplitude. Furthermore, two different PERG tests showed a similar ability to recognize individuals without glaucomatous changes and PhNR amplitude and latency were able to identify people with and without glaucoma-related changes, respectively.