Light-sense, flicker and resolution perimetry in glaucoma: a comparative study.

A total of 106 eyes of 106 patients with different types of glaucoma were examined by automated light-sense, flicker and resolution perimetry (Humphrey Field Analyzer, program 30-2; flicker perimeter as described by Lachenmayr [16, 18]; resolution perimeter as devised by Frisén [4, 6, 8-11]). The fields were classified in a masked fashion as being normal or as having purely diffuse loss, purely localized loss or diffuse as well as localized loss. As compared with light-sense perimetry, resolution perimetry had a markedly lower sensitivity in the detection of glaucomatous damage (77%) but a high specificity (93%); the comparison of resolution perimetry with flicker perimetry showed similar results (sensitivity, 75%; specificity, 85%). When flicker perimetry was compared with light-sense perimetry and vice versa, the sensitivity was high (95% and 94%, respectively), but the specificity was low (57% and 62%, respectively). The prevalence of detection of diffuse loss by both light-sense and resolution perimetry was related to visual acuity, whereas flicker perimetry did not show such a relationship.