Tonometry and pachymetry Flashcards
for which 2 reasons is the early detection of glaucoma needed
- Treatment is more effective the earlier you pick it up
Lowering IOP is the only treatment that is effective in glaucoma as its a modifiable risk factor - It allows the identification and follow up of “at risk” patients
how good are optometrists at detecting glaucoma
- Glaucoma detection rates vary between 17% and 39% for patients referred by Optometrists with a suspected diagnosis of glaucoma
- But a lot of those referred who do not have glaucoma are ocular hypertensives or other “suspects” who the ophthalmologists may wish to treat:
One third had glaucoma, one third were suspects, and one third were discharged - more than 95% of those referred for suspected glaucoma are referred by optometrists
list the 8 Demographic and clinical factors that can affect IOP (long term effects) giving reasons as to why/how for each and which one out of these is the biggest factor
- Age: a rise of 1 – 2mmHg occurs between 20 and 70 years of age
vascular - changes with age - Gender: IOP 1 – 2mmHg higher in older women
- IOP seems to be genetically determined
- Race
In one study mean IOP was higher in a non-glaucomatous black population compared with a caucasian population - Myopia: associated with higher IOP
- Systemic disease
Systemic hypertension and diabetes may lead to higher IOP - Ocular disease
Some diseases can raise IOP (e.g. Pigment Dispersion Syndrome) and some can lower it (e.g. some retinal detachments) - Corneal characteristics - the biggest factor
what is contradicting about Gender: IOP 1 – 2mmHg higher in older women
but men are more likely to develop open angle glaucoma than women slightly
which 2 corneal characteristics influences IOP measurement
- Corneal thickness (see next slides)
- Corneal curvature
Steep corneas over - estimate true IOP
Flat corneas under - estimate true IOP
which type of corneal curvature under estimates and which type over estimates the true IOP
- under estimate = flat corneas
- over estimates = steep corneas
what is manometry
what advantage does it have
- a measure of IOP which bypasses the cornea but putting a tube into the anterior chamber
- IOP is measured without involving the cornea, so readings cannot be affected by corneal thickness or curvature
what was discovered about the corneas of:
- ocular hypertensives
- patients with NTG
- Ocular hypertensives have thicker corneas ((which contributes to high IOP readings)
- Patients with NTG have thinner corneas (true pressure may be higher than that measured)
what did the ocular HTN treatment study find was a risk factor for POAG
having a thin cornea
what does carrying out pachymetry in practice measure and why
central corneal thickness
it is an important measure to consider when assessing IOP in practice and deciding whether to refer
what error range is suggested to be used as a correction factor from an avg CCT of 535um
an error range of ~0.2-0.7mmHg per 10µm difference from an average central corneal thickness (approx 535µm)
how does pachymetry measure CCT
how many % of practices is it available in
what is the gold standard instrument to measure pachymetry and give 2 trade names of this device
- Measures corneal thickness by optical, interferometric or ultrasound techniques
- Pachymetry is available in about 18% of practices
- Gold standard for corneal thickness determination is the hand-held ultrasound pachymeter
- Pachmate
- PachPen
what do ultrasound pachymeters:
- operate at
- what is their mechanism of taking the measurement
- how is the CCT then calculated
- what are the 2 advantages to this technique
- Operate at frequencies of 20 to 50 MHz
- Emit short acoustic pulses and detect reflections from the anterior and posterior surfaces of the cornea
- Corneal thickness is then calculated from the measured time-of-flight between these reflections and the accepted speed of sound in the cornea of 1636–1640 m/s
- time x speed = thickness
- results are accurate and repeatable
list 6 sources of error in pachymetry
- Decentration (thicker values if off-centre)
- Oblique incidence (thicker values if probe not at 90 degrees to corneal surface)
- Possibly corneal compression by the probe (if press too hard, can flatten cornea)
- Possible effects of local anaesthetic on cornea up to 10 μm difference (? Epithelial oedema)
- Variation in the speed of sound between healthy and diseased tissue of cornea
- Inter- and intra-observer variability
list 7 short-term factors affecting IOP (which may affect the accuracy of your IOP measurement) from using either NCT or CT
- Time of day (diurnal range)
- Cardiac Cycle
- Body position
- Blinking, forced blinking and hard squeezing
- Fluid intake
- Patient holding their breath
- Accommodation
what is the diurnal range (time of day) for:
normals
glaucomatous avg range
wha value of diurnal variation is considered pathological
- normal range 3 - 5mmHg
- glaucomatous average range ~13mmHg
- greater than 10mmHg is usually considered pathological