Bill Harvey: DARC adaptation in glaucoma patients

A big news story last week in the eye world, as I am sure you heard. A new and simple non-invasive test has been verified in initial clinical trials as being able to detect sensitively the earliest signs of glaucoma.¹

It is a depressing thought that, at present, most established ways of screening for glaucoma are less than perfect. Visual fields assessment is the mainstay of most community practitioners, but it is worth remembering this is a subjective response test and therefore inherently less than perfect.

Worse still, it is well known that anything up to 40% of retinal nerve fibres are lost before repeatable field loss is detectable. Intraocular pressure is a glaucoma risk factor but by no means diagnostic. OCT measurement of structural change is increasingly impressive but is still simply indicating established damage.