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Cone defects may indicate specific disorders
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NEW ORLEANS – The Rabin Cone Test can help diagnose patients with retinal, optic nerve or visual pathway problems, according to a presenter here at an American Academy of Optometry-sponsored press conference.
“We have three groups of cones,” Jerome Sherman, OD, said at the press conference. “If we look at them separately, we can find a defect in one cone, and it can be useful in diagnosing specific disorders. It can give us early information in disease detection.”
The Rabin Cone Test from Innova Systems combines color vision testing and contrast sensitivity, Sherman said.
“We use red, green and blue one at a time and then change the contrast levels to see how well the patient sees,” he said. “It’s based upon a lot of clinical research conducted over the last few years. It’s easy to administer, takes 4 or 5 minutes, is reimbursable and has been independently validated.
“The colored letters isolate cone function by cone type for accurate, repeatable results,” Sherman continued. “We start with high contrast and go to low contrast and figure where the threshold is.”
Sherman said normal individuals do well on the test, while patients with retinal or optic nerve or visual pathway disorders do not.
“There’s a good separation between normal and abnormal,” he said.
The Rabin Cone Test is useful in retinal conditions, glaucoma and neurological disease such as multiple sclerosis and optic neuritis, Sherman said. – by Nancy Hemphill, ELS, FAAO
Disclosure: Sherman is a consultant to Innova Systems.