Cluster analysis in visual field quantification

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Abstract
The central visual fields of 2165 normal and 106 glaucoma eyes were measured using a threshold related suprathreshold strategy. The effects of altering the cluster radius in normals and glaucoma eyes sheds light on the nature of defects in these two groups. It is estimated that approximately 13% of normals have clusters; the great majority of these individuals have one cluster of two defects. Most clusters in normals are formed artefactually due to angioscotoma and/or physiological variations in the blind spot position. Clusters due to other factors occur rarely. Clusters are found with equal frequencies in the superior and inferior fields in normal eyes, but with a greater frequency in the superior field in glaucoma eyes. The use of clusters in quantification is both sensitive and specific. Using results from this large sample and looking at other visual field properties, it is possible to devise weighted probability indices to score visual fields.