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Recent studies showed that the accuracy of icVEP for glaucoma diagnosis ranges from 91%-100%9,22,26. Cross-sectional studies in China are presented here to further evaluate the potential diagnostic value of icVEP for early stage OAG.
Subjects
Subjects were OAG patients and healthy volunteers recruited by the Department of Ophthalmology, Peking University Third Hospital during 2015 and 2016. Inclusion criteria for OAG patients included the following: 25-75 years of age; best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) < 0.3 (logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution, log MAR); spherical refraction between -6 and +3 diopters; and transparent ocular media. Additionally, patients showed the presence of OAG (subjects with open-angle, visual field defects corresponding to glaucomatous optic neuropathy [GON], and having normal or elevated IOP without secondary causes), in which the IOP was medically well-controlled and had reliable visual field test results (false positive errors ≤ 20%, false negative errors ≤ 20%, fixation losses ≤ 30%) that showed early glaucomatous visual field defects on SAP.
Inclusion criteria for control subjects included the following: no ocular abnormalities, especially no GON in any eye; and a normal IOP that was never elevated over 21 mmHg. Exclusion criteria included the following: diabetes or any other systemic disease; history of ocular or neurologic disease; unequal pupil diameters and pupil diameters of < 2.0 mm; poor fixation; current use of medications that can affect visual field sensitivity (i.e., ethambutol, hydroxychloroquine, chlorpromazine); and previous history of intraocular surgery or refractory surgery.
Examinations for OAG diagnosis
For all patients, spectacle corrections were used to decrease possible effects of a blur on visual field sensitivity. At least two reliable SAP tests were performed by the Humphrey Field Analyzer II 30-2 SITA standard program at baseline. The second reliable visual field result obtained was used in this study to minimize learning effects27. An early stage of glaucomatous visual field loss was defined as a mean deviation (MD) of ≥ -6.00 dB, and with at least one of the following: 1) there existed a cluster of ≥ 3 points in an expected location of the visual field depressed < 5% level, at least one of which was < 1% level on pattern deviation plot; 2) corrected pattern standard deviation or pattern standard deviation significant were at p < 0.05; 3) glaucoma hemifield test result was "outside normal limits"28.
Baseline examination consisted of tests for visual acuity and refraction, pupil-diameter-measurement with a ruler in natural light, slit-lamp biomicroscopy, gonioscopy, Goldmann applanation tonometry (GAT), and dilated stereoscopic fundus examination in all subjects.
The baseline IOP was measured by GAT during glaucoma service (8 A.M. to 11 A.M. local time) on the day after receiving icVEP test reports. Each patient was also subjected to a central corneal thickness (CCT) measurement using ultrasound pachymetry under topical anesthesia29. An average of five consecutive readings was recorded.
Stereoscopic fundus photographs were obtained from each patient after pupil dilation and evaluated in a masked fashion by two experienced doctors. Discrepancies between the two doctors were either resolved by consensus or adjudication of a third experienced doctor. GON was defined as at least one of the following: 1) the rim-to-disc ratio was < 0.1 in the upper or lower rims; 2) there existed retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) defects; 3) optic disc showed splint hemorrhages30,31.
Each patient was also subjected to an optical coherence tomography (OCT) test to confirm RNFL defects corresponding to both stereoscopic photographs and HFA results. The changing of RNFL thickness in temporal superior (TS) quadrant and temporal inferior (TI) quadrant were calculated as follows: changing of RNFL thickness = RNFL thickness value - standard value from database of normal people (Figure 4B).
Statistical analysis
One eye was randomly selected to be analyzed when both eyes met the inclusion criteria. All the data needed to be established within 3 months for each subject. The SPSS 22.0 statistical package with statistical tests was used as follows: independent sample t-test was used for normally distributed variables; Mann-Whitney U test was used for numeric variables that were not normally distributed; and binomial variables were compared with a Chi-squared test or Fisher's exact test, when necessary. Receiver-operating-characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to estimate prediction accuracy for the presence of glaucomatous damage32. Pearson correlation coefficient was used to analyze correlations between SNR and parameters on OCT as well as between SNR and abnormalities in the central 11° field on SAP. If p < 0.05, differences were considered significant.
Results
A total of 44 OAG patients and 39 control subjects were included with complete data. None of these subjects complained during the icVEP test. All 83 subjects were Chinese (48 males and 35 females) with an average age of 48.54 ± 16.70 years old (range of 25-74 years). No statistical differences existed in age, sex, right/left eye, BCVA, spherical equivalent, or pupil diameter between patients and controls (Table 1, p > 0.05), but SNR was significantly lower in patients than in controls (Table 1, p < 0.05).
Regarding the icVEP results, there were 30 eyes of early OAG patients that were SNR-positive (68.18%) and only two eyes in the control group (5.13%). Using an SNR criterion of 1, icVEP showed a sensitivity of 68.18% and specificity of 94.87% for diagnosing early OAG (calculating an accuracy of 67/83 [80.72%]). However, ROC analysis indicated that an a priori SNR criterion of 0.93 was optimal for discrimination between patients and control subjects (Figure 5). Using an SNR criterion of 0.93, the specificity of the test reached 100% with a sensitivity of 65.90% (calculating an accuracy of 82.10%).
For the patients, abnormalities in the central 11° visual field test (HFA, pattern deviation, central 16 test points; Figure 4C) were calculated by the numbers of abnormal points with different possibility criteria. With a criterion level of p < 0.5, the amount of abnormal test points in the central 11° visual field was significantly negatively correlated with SNR (p < 0.05, r = -0.332, Table 2). Thickness changing of RNFL in the temporal superior quadrant was significantly positively correlated with SNR (p < 0.05, r = 0.370, Table 2), while SAP-MD, SAP-MD of the other eye, thickness changing of RNFL in the temporal inferior quadrant, and baseline IOP and CCT were all not correlated with SNR (p > 0.05, Table 3).

Figure 1: Representation of the isolated-check visual evoked potential evaluating the M-cell pathway. Layers 1 and 2 are involved in the magnocellular pathway. Layers 3, 4, 5, and 6 are involved in the parvocellular pathway. The spaces between these six layers are involved in the bistratified cell pathway. RGC = retinal ganglion cell. Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.

Figure 2: Bright conditions (positive-contrast) on the screen of isolated-check visual evoked potential. This figure has been modified from a previous publication24. Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.

Figure 3: Diagram of isolated-check visual evoked potential examination. GND = grounding electrode; Cz = central midline electrode; Pz = parietal midline electrode; Oz = occipital midline electrode. This figure has been modified from a previous publication24. Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.

Figure 4: Typical results from an early stage open angle glaucoma patient. (A) Abnormal isolated-check visual evoked potential results. (B) Outcomes of peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (RNFLT) classification on the report of optical coherence tomography. Changing of RNFLT = RNFLT value (black number). The standard value from a database of normal subjects. (green number in brackets). G = global; N = nasal; T = temporal; NS = nasal superior; TS = temporal superior; NI = nasal inferior; TI = temporal inferior. (C) Central 16 test points of pattern deviation on Humphrey Field Analyzer 30-2 SITA program corresponding to the central 11° visual field. This figure has been modified from a previous publication24. Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.

Figure 5: ROC curve. Shown is a ROC curve (blue) for data collected from the signal-to-noise ratios of isolated-check visual evoked potential in open-angle glaucoma patients and control subjects. Please click here to view a larger version of this figure.
| OAG patients (n=44) | Control subjects (n=39) | p |
| Age (year) | 51.59±14.98 | 44.72±16.88 | 0.053* |
| Sex (male/female) | 28/16 | 20/19 | 0.175$ |
| Right eyes / Left eyes | 20/24 | 19/20 | 0.770$ |
| BCVA (log MAR) | 0.04±0.06 | 0.01±0.04 | 0.093# |
| Spherical Equivalent (D) | -1.80±2.16 | -1.30±2.00 | 0.276# |
| Pupil Diameters (mm) | 3.43±0.50 | 3.46±0.51 | 0.789# |
| icVEP-SNR | 0.85±0.53 | 1.44±0.57 | 0.000# |
| *Independent-sample t test, $Chi-square test, #Mann-Whitney U test |
| OAG: open-angle glaucoma, BCVA: best-corrected visual acuity; log MAR: logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution; icVEP: isolated-check visual evoked potential; SNR: signal-to-noise ratio |
Table 1: Clinical characteristics of OAG patients and control subjects at baseline.
| Numbers of abnormal test points | Mean ± Std (n=44) | r | p* |
| When P<5% | 4.20±2.60 | -0.264 | 0.099 |
| When P<2% | 2.83±2.34 | -0.298 | 0.061 |
| When P<1% | 2.08±2.12 | -0.266 | 0.097 |
| When P<0.5% | 1.48±1.80 | -0.332 | 0.037 |
| *Pearson correlation test |
| icVEP: isolated-check visual evoked potential; SNR: signal-to-noise ratio; SAP: standard automated perimetry |
Table 2: Correlation between icVEP-SNR and abnormalities in central 11° visual field of SAP in open-angle glaucoma patients.
| Mean ± Std (n=44) | r | p* |
| SAP-MD (dB) | -3.83±1.26 | 0.115 | 0.457 |
| SAP-MD of the other eye (dB) | -4.86±3.94 | -0.15 | 0.33 |
| OCT-Thickness changing of RNFL (μm) | | | |
| Temporal Superior quadrant | -39.31±29.89 | 0.37 | 0.016 |
| Temporal Inferior quadrant | -43.64±29.83 | -0.22 | 0.161 |
| Baseline IOP (mmHg) | 15.48±2.80 | -0.121 | 0.435 |
| CCT (μm) | 523.24±29.64 | 0.171 | 0.333 |
| *Pearson correlation test |
| icVEP: isolated-check visual evoked potential; SNR: signal-to-noise ratio; SAP: standard automated perimetry (HFA 30-2 SITA); MD: mean deviation; OCT: optical coherence tomography; RNFL: retinal nerve fiber layer; IOP: intraocular pressure; CCT: central corneal thickness |
Table 3: Correlation between icVEP-SNR and relating factors in patients with open-angle glaucoma.