Electronic glaucoma risk calculator an adjunct to experience

Robert N. Weinreb, MD, described an electronic glaucoma risk calculator to WOC attendees.

SAO PAULO, Brazil — An electronic calculator designed to predict conversion from ocular hypertension to glaucoma can serve as an additional tool to guide a physician’s treatment decision, according to the research team that developed it. The calculator was first made available last year in a manual device similar to a slide rule. Robert N. Weinreb, MD, and Felipe Medeiros, MD, both from the Hamilton Glaucoma Centre at the University of California, San Diego, described the new electronic version of the risk calculator at a press briefing sponsored by Pfizer Ophthalmics here during the World Ophthalmology Congress.

The risk calculator concept is based on the outcomes of the National Eye Institute’s Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study and further validated by data from a subset of patients in another study, Dr. Weinreb said.

Felipe Medeiros, MD, said the calculator should function as an adjunct.

The electronic version introduced here is easier to use than its slide rule predecessor, Dr. Medeiros said. He said physicians can calculate a single numerical score based on six factors (age, IOP, central corneal thickness, vertical cup-to-disc ratio, pattern standard deviation on perimetry and presence or absence of diabetes). The “score” tallied by the calculator indicates the potential risk that a patient with ocular hypertension will convert to glaucoma in the next 5 years.

Knowing patients’ risk levels will allow the physician to focus on the patients who are at greatest risk, Dr. Weinreb said.

As more data from larger studies are released, Dr. Weinreb said, he hopes the risk factor may be able to be calculated out to 10 or 15 years.

“The risk calculator should be an adjunct to, not a replacement for, clinical experience and judgment of the physician,” Dr. Medeiros said. Physicians should also consider a patient’s overall health status, life expectancy and commitment to treatment.

Pfizer Ophthalmics is providing copies of the electronic risk calculator to interested physicians.