SPECTRALIS OCT & HEP VF –
Combining Structure and Function

Your advantages at a glance:

• All relevant information on one printout
• Automatically generated in HEYEX
• Improved time and patient management
• Secure clinical diagnosis
• Facilitates patient education

Clinically, glaucomatous damage is typically diagnosed via a combination of structural and functional measurements. In particular, a loss of visual field (VF) sensitivity as measured with Flicker-Defined-Form (FDF) Perimetry or Standard Automated Perimetry (SAP) is compared to structural or anatomical damage detected by Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT), which makes it possible to obtain topographical information about local damage to the ONH, retinal ganglion cell (RGC) loss and retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness. A detailed evaluation of the relationship between structural damage and functional defects helps to determine the patient´s disease status and to monitor the longitudinal relationship between structural and functional changes in the individual patient.

Fig. 1: Combined SPECTRALIS RNFL & HEP VF Report (click to magnify)

Heidelberg Engineering devices offer a variety of structure-function combinations.
Patient data is efficiently linked between instruments by the common Heidelberg Eye Explorer (HEYEX) platform. Easy network solutions, immediate data retrieval and viewing improve patient and time management.

The combined report facilitates comparison between different examinations and is especially helpful in such cases in which the appearance of the visual field or RNFL alone is not sufficient for accurate diagnosis. In such cases the clinical evidence is stronger if the RNFL appearance can easily be corroborated with the visual field and vice versa. In glaucoma diagnosis even the temporal relationship between structural and functional change is of special importance to determine whether one precedes the other. Therapies may be initiated or adjusted based on the earliest indications of glaucomatous defects and the rate of change.

Time consuming review of various reports has been eliminated and patient assistance is facilitated and accelerated thereby. The combination of structural and functional data on one report also significantly increases patient information and education.