The Full-field Flicker Test in Early Diagnosis of Chronic Open-angle Glaucoma

Temporal contrast sensitivity using full-field flicker test (Erlangen flicker test) in patients after penetrating keratoplasty

“…Previous studies have shown, that TCS has a sensitivity of 21-41% in the detection of early glaucoma and therefore can be used in combination with other psychophysical tests to increase the overall detection rate. The contrast threshold correlated significantly with functional glaucomatous damage such as visual field defect and with morphological glaucomatous damage such as reduction of neuroretinal rim area of the optic nerve [10,12,13,15]. This is in agreement with previous studies in which other psychophysical tests using flicker light stimuli for measurement of temporal resolution have been shown to be helpful for detection of glaucomatous optic nerve damage.…”

“…Previous studies by our group showed that lens opacities and IOP on the day of examination had only minor influences on TCS [15,17]. In contrast, it was shown in previous studies that the TCS determined by full-field flicker test as used in this study was significantly reduced not only in advanced glaucoma stages but also in patients with ocular hypertension or preperimetric glaucoma [12]. Mean TCS was (1.55±0.17) in the normal group and (1.49±0.13) in those following PK in this study, compared with (1.36±0.23) in patients with early glaucoma without visual field loss and (1.07±0.33) in a heterogeneous group of patients with glaucomatous visual field defects.…”

“…This was done by dividing each individual TCS value by the equation of the linear regression and multiplying by the mean. For these computations the results of the control subjects were used as reference [12,13]. Associations of TCS values with best-corrected visual acuity, corneal topographic data, and central corneal thickness were examined using Pearson's correlation coefficient.…”

“…This flicker test is performed in a full-field bowl with no need for fixation or dark adaptation. We have previously shown that TCS as measured with such a simple, quick photopic system is significantly reduced in early glaucomas [12,13]. The contrast threshold determined with this full-field flicker test correlated with morphological glaucomatous optic nerve damages.…”

“…For the determination of the TCS a previously described system with a full-field bowl and a white flicker light was used [12,13]. The test was performed under photopic conditions and required no fixation by the subject.…”