Efficiency of Rarebit perimetry in the evaluation of homonymous hemianopia in stroke patients.

AIMS: To compare the efficiency of Rarebit perimetry and the Humphrey field analyser (HFA) in detecting the homonymous hemianopia in stroke patients with occipital lobe infarcts.

METHODS: 40 patients who suffered from visual complaints caused by acute occipital lobe infarcts underwent visual field analysis on the same day, in random order-first with either Humphrey perimetry 30-2, SITA standard program (Zeiss Humphrey Systems) or Rarebit perimetry. A visual field was classified into four quadrants for right and left eyes: superior temporal, superior nasal, inferior temporal, and inferior nasal. The entire mean hit rate numbers (MHR) and mean deviation and pattern standard deviation (PSD) values were compared for each quadrant of each eye.

RESULTS: The results of Rarebit MHR and HFA mean deviation values for each quadrant of the right and left eyes were highly correlated in all patients with homonymous hemianopia (Pearson's r correlation coefficients for superior temporal, superior nasal, inferior temporal and inferior nasal quadrants of right and left eyes were 0.827, 0.833, 0.843, 0851 and 0.746, 0821, 0882, 0.824, respectively (p<0.001 for all quadrants)). There was a strong correlation between Rarebit MHR and HFA PSD for each quadrant of both eyes.

CONCLUSIONS: Rarebit perimetry is rapid, reliable, and easily performed in patients with homonymous hemianopia. It can be done using a simple software program and simple hardware and it readily detects severe visual loss in patients with occipital lobe lesions.