New Tool to Predict Glaucoma

Even for skilled eye specialists, glaucoma can be difficult to detect. Most clinicians measure eye pressure,
examine the optic nerve, and test the visual field to determine if a patient has glaucoma. Recently, a new tool has become available to help predict the development of glaucoma in patients with high eye pressure (ocular hypertension).

Glaucoma specialists, Robert N. Weinreb, M.D., Distinguished Professor of Ophthalmology and Director of the Hamilton Glaucoma Center, and Felipe Medeiros, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology, have developed a “glaucoma risk calculator” that estimates the 5-year risk of a patient with ocular hypertension progressing to glaucoma.

The risk calculator was developed based on a comparison of data collected in the UCSD Diagnostics in Innovations in Glaucoma Study (DIGS) from patients with ocular hypertension and compared with the data obtained independently in the national multi-center Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study (OHTS).

In collaboration with Pamela Sample, Ph.D. and Linda Zangwill, Ph.D., both Professors of Ophthalmology and DIGS Principal Investigators, this study validated key patient risk factors that predict the progression from ocular hypertension to glaucoma – risk factors such as older age, high intraocular pressure, thin central cornea, larger vertical cup-to-disc ratio, and higher visual field pattern standard deviation index. According to Dr. Medeiros, “The risk calculator provides the eye specialist with a single number that estimates the risk of an individual patient developing glaucoma within the next five years.”

“In addition to predicting glaucoma, use of a risk calculator may improve allocation of healthcare resources and provides information that helps an eye specialist manage a patient with ocular hypertension. Use of a risk calculator also provides information that can help patients understand their condition, but is not meant to replace the experience and clinical judgment of an eye specialist,” according to Dr. Weinreb.