Accuracy of isolated-check visual evoked potential technique for diagnosing primary open-angle glaucoma

The aim of this study was to determine the diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of isolated-check visual evoked potentials (icVEP) in primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG).

Ninety POAG patients and sixty-six healthy controls were recruited consecutively. All subjects underwent icVEP and visual field testing. Swept icVEP response functions were obtained by increasing contrast in six stimulus steps, recording the electroencephalogram synchronized to the stimulus display’s frame rate and calculating the corresponding signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the response at the fundamental frequency to evaluate visual function. Depth of modulation of the check luminance was increased as follows: 2, 4, 8, 14, 22 and 32%, about an equal level of standing contrast, so that the pattern appeared and disappeared at a frequency of 10.0 Hz. SNR above 0.85 was deemed to be significant at the 0.1 level and SNR above 1 significant at the 0.05 level.

The results show that SNR is contrast dependent. It significantly rose as contrast increased. The areas under receiver-operating-characteristic curves (AUCs) indicating classification accuracy for all POAG cases in comparison with normal subjects were 0.790 (sensitivity 91.1%, specificity 69.7%) with the cutoff SNR of 0.85, and 0.706 (sensitivity 95.6%, specificity 51.5%) with the cutoff SNR of 1. The AUC of early glaucoma cases (EG) in comparison with normal subjects was 0.801 (sensitivity 93.3%, specificity 69.7%) with the cutoff SNR of 0.85, and 0.717 (sensitivity 97.8%, specificity 51.5%) with the cutoff SNR of 1.

icVEP has good diagnostic accuracy (high sensitivity and moderate specificity) in distinguishing early POAG patients from healthy subjects. It might be a promising device to use in conjunction with complementary functional and structural measures for early POAG detection.