Objective:
To compare the intraocular pressure readings obtained by Goldmann
Applanation Tonometer, Icare rebound tonometer and Schiotz indentation
tonometer. Also to find the degree of agreement between each tonometers & to
study the influence of factors like Age, Sex, Laterality over their measurement.
Design:
Cross sectional hospital based study.
Studypopulation:
102 patients attending ophthalmology OPD of our hospital.
Methods:
Cases were selected on the basis of inclusion and exclusion criteria. Then
demographic details of the cases were recorded. All the cases were then
evaluated in the following order before subjecting them to IOP measurements.
The protocol is as follows:
1. Visual acuity with pinhole.
2. Detailed anterior segment examination with slit lamp examination
3. Fields charting with Bjerrum screen
4. Then IOP measurement using 3 different tonometers.
5. Followed by that pupil is dilated using 0.5% tropicamide and detailed
fundus evaluation is done to rule out glaucomatous changes.
Results:
Resultsshowed that most of patients in our study were females.
And the average age group was 62 year for males and 58 year for females. The
statisticaldifference in IOP between right and left eye was absent. Also there
was no significant change in IOP with respect to age in both sexes.
The correlation studies showed that the correlation between schiotz and
other two tonometers namely Icare and GAT were weak. But that of GAT and
Icare was very strong which was also statistically very significant in both the
eyes.
Also the agreement between IOP values of GAT and Icare was very good
than the agreement between schiotz and other tonometers.
Conclusion:
Accurate IOP assessment is of pivotal importance in glaucoma
diagnosis.Schiotz tonometry though cheap, portable, light weight and quick
method of IOP assessment it is not an accurate and reliable method of
assessment.GAT is the gold standard technique of IOP assessment in glaucoma
patients, giving reliable and accurate readings. But it is time consuming, not
portable and cumbersome to use.ICARE tonometer is easy to use, comfortable
to patients, quick, lightweight and portable. Yet it gives reliable and accurate
IOP readings comparable with GAT.Thus ICARE tonometer can be used as an
effective screening tool
