[Gradation of visual field loss in glaucoma].

In order to unify assessment of visual field damage, the visual field charts of 77 glaucoma patients were given "educated estimation" by 3 ophthalmologists in 5 grades of early, mild, moderate, severe and late stages. Then the Esterman Grid Scoring was adopted to evaluate each chart. With regard to defects of the early and late stages, there were no difference between these two methods which, however, disagreed for the mild, moderate and severe stages. For the sake of accuracy, criteria for each stage were postulated in writing and 10 selected charts of glaucomatous visual field defects were given evaluation accordingly by 6 ophthalmologists, followed by assessment with the Esterman Grid; the results were similar. The authors, therefore, recommend that the Esterman Grid be adopted for unification and dependability, the standards being visual field loss of 10 units as the early stage, 20 units as the mild stage, 30-50 units as the moderate stage, 50-80 units as the severe stage, and over 80 units as the late stage. Gradation of visual field loss by numerals also facilitates computer storage of the records.