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Abstract #15965 Published in IGR 2-3
Criteria for progression of glaucoma in clinical management and in outcomestudies.
Anderson DR; Chauhan B; Johnson C; Katz J; Patella VM; Drance SMAmerican Journal of Ophthalmology 2000; 130: 827-829
A group of experts on aspects of glaucoma and progression met in order to develop concrete criteria that might be suggested for wide-spread use to create uniformity in scientific studies and clinical practice. It soon appeared that uniform criteria for progression were not easy to prescribe. The authors therefore considered the characteristics that would make a determination of glaucoma progression acceptable. They present 12 guidelines. These are too long to reproduce in this abstract. The reader is referred to the website of International Glaucoma Review. The authors come up with the following conclusion: minimally acceptable criteria for visual field testing, other visual functions, anatomic measurements, or counts of axons, as well as surrogate measurements of future deterioration, must all be left undefined for the moment, because both technology and data analysis methods are in evolution. It may be sufficient to say that whenever evidence is presented, it must show an effect that scientific critics accept as relevant to the underlying disease events, that any group difference is genuine (statistically), and that the magnitude of the demonstrated difference in therapeutic trials is sufficient to affect the symptomatic outcome to a worthwhile degree compared with the risks and other costs. At this time, we do not have sufficient information to suggest what such evidence must be. Several acceptable lines of evidence may exist, some more pertinent to certain experiments or clinical circumstances than to others. They hope that their deliberations and conclusions might be of help both to investigators who are designing and conducting these valuable studies, as well to those who have to make decisions regarding their meaning and importance to clinical practice as well as legislative-regulatory actions.
Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami, (Dr Anderson), Miami, Florida,USA
Classification:
2.14 Optic disc (Part of: 2 Anatomical structures in glaucoma)
6.6.2 Automated (Part of: 6 Clinical examination methods > 6.6 Visual field examination and other visual function tests)
