Finger on the Pulsar

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The principles and concepts of automated perimetry were first developed in around 1972 by Professor Franz Fankhauser and others and the first automated static perimeter, the Octopus 201, appeared in 1974. Since then, standard automated perimetry (SAP) has become an important part of optometric assessment of eye health. Strategies of assessing retinal function using single and multiple stimuli allow the threshold of light detection to be assessed with good reliability and repeatability, and these may be directly focused in areas either side of the vertical and horizontal midlines to ensure high sensitivity (the term representing the ability to detect disease) in detecting retinal nerve fibre layer diseases, such as glaucoma, as well as visual pathway disease, such as intracranial lesions. Screening strategies are routinely employed on the majority of patients in the UK and the employment of suprathreshold stimuli ensures good specificity (a term representing the ability to allow a normal patient to have their normal field confirmed).