Spectral Pattern ERG for Diagnosis of Glaucoma

描述（由申请人提供）：通过一系列的研究和设计研究，首席研究员已经达成了青光眼诊断测试的技术和设备概念，该技术和设备有望在出现可靠的视野丧失迹象之前确认疾病阶段的功能丧失，这是青光眼领域研究的优先目标。对正常受试者、青光眼疑似患者和确诊青光眼患者人群的初步数据显示，正常受试者和确诊青光眼患者的测试成绩没有重叠。正常和嫌疑人的平均得分也有统计学上的显著差异。在嫌疑人和确诊病例的平均数量之间。我们建议做一个扩大和改进的研究，通过由青光眼专家进行受试者的选择和记录来满足更严格的标准，在初步研究中无法获得，并且通过对测试人员进行诊断。该诊断技术采用了一种新的方法，即在ERG模式中对消色差和色差刺激，提供了一个零点测量，比通常的测量变化更少。初步资料清楚地显示，青光眼的零点有明显的移位。它以某种方式转移，提供了青光眼中亮度神经节细胞先于反色神经节细胞丢失的证据，这与解剖学证据相吻合。该方法还具有全自动测试的优点，患者只需要保持固定，不需要患者经常做出困难的主观判断。它也显示出希望，这将被研究，非常快速评估视野丧失和治疗效果，利用新的信号处理程序。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Through a series of research and design studies, the Principal Investigator has arrived at a technique and apparatus concept for a diagnostic test for glaucoma which promises to confirm functional loss at a stage of the disease before there are reliable signs of visual field loss, a high priority aim of research in the glaucoma area. Preliminary data on populations of normal subjects, glaucoma suspects and confirmed glaucoma patients show no overlap in test scores between the normal subjects and the confirmed glaucoma patients. Statistically significant differences were also found between the mean scores of normal and of suspects. and between mean scores of suspects and of confirmed cases. It is proposed here to do an enlarged and improved study, which will meet more exacting criteria by having the selection and documentation of subjects performed by a glaucoma specialist, unavailable in the preliminary studies, and by keeping the testing personnel masked from the diagnosis. The diagnostic technique utilizes a new approach that involves opposing achromatic and chromatic stimulation in the pattern ERG, which provides a null point measurement which is less variable than the usual measurement. The preliminary data show very clearly that the null point shifts significantly in glaucoma. It shifts in a way which provides evidence that luminance ganglion cells are lost before color-opponent ganglion cells in glaucoma, which meshes with anatomical evidence. The proposed approach also has the advantage of fully automatic testing with the patient required only to maintain fixation, obviating the need for the patient to make frequently difficult subjective judgments. It also shows promise, which will be studied, of very rapid assessment of visual field loss and of treatment effectiveness, utilizing new signal processing procedures.