Combining Optical Coherence Tomography and Fundus Photography to Improve Glaucoma Screening

Abstract

We aimed to evaluate the accuracy of glaucoma screening using fundus photography combined with optical coherence tomography and determine the agreement between ophthalmologists and ophthalmology residents. We used a comprehensive ophthalmologic examination dataset obtained from 503 cases (1006 eyes). Of the 1006 eyes, 132 had a confirmed glaucoma diagnosis. Overall, 24 doctors, comprising two groups (ophthalmologists and ophthalmology residents, 12 individuals/group), analyzed the data presented in three screening strategies as follows: (1) fundus photography alone, (2) fundus photography + optical coherence tomography, and (3) fundus photography + optical coherence tomography + comprehensive examination. We investigated the diagnostic accuracy (sensitivity and specificity). The respective sensitivity and specificity values for the diagnostic accuracy obtained by 24 doctors, 12 ophthalmologists, and 12 ophthalmology residents were as follows: (1) fundus photography: sensitivity, 55.4%, 55.4%, and 55.4%; specificity, 91.8%, 94.0%, and 89.6%; (2) fundus photography + OCT: sensitivity, 80.0%, 82.3%, and 77.8%; specificity, 91.7%, 92.9%, and 90.6%; and (3) fundus photography + OCT + comprehensive examination: sensitivity 78.4%, 79.8%, and 77.1%; specificity, 92.7%, 94.0%, and 91.3%. The diagnostic accuracy of glaucoma screening significantly increased with optical coherence tomography. Following its addition, ophthalmologists could more effectively improve the diagnostic accuracy than ophthalmology residents. Screening accuracy is improved when optical coherence tomography is added to fundus photography.