Efficacy of Smoothing Algorithms to Enhance Detection of Visual Field Progression in Glaucoma

Vahid Mohammadzadeh, MD; Leyan Li, MS; Zhe Fei, PhD; Tyler Davis, MS; Esteban Morales, MS; Kara Wu, BS; Elise Lee Ma, MD, PhD; Abdelmonem Afifi, PhD; Kouros Nouri-Mahdavi, MD, MS; Joseph Caprioli, MD

Ophthalmology Science (Mar 2024)

Efficacy of Smoothing Algorithms to Enhance Detection of Visual Field Progression in Glaucoma

Vahid Mohammadzadeh, MD,
Leyan Li, MS,
Zhe Fei, PhD,
Tyler Davis, MS,
Esteban Morales, MS,
Kara Wu, BS,
Elise Lee Ma, MD, PhD,
Abdelmonem Afifi, PhD,
Kouros Nouri-Mahdavi, MD, MS,
Joseph Caprioli, MD

Affiliations

Vahid Mohammadzadeh, MD: David Geffen School of Medicine, Glaucoma Division, Jules Stein Eye Institute, Los Angeles, California
Leyan Li, MS: University of California Los Angeles Jonathan and Karin Fielding School of Public Health, Los Angeles, California; Biostatistics, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California
Zhe Fei, PhD: University of California Los Angeles Jonathan and Karin Fielding School of Public Health, Los Angeles, California; Biostatistics, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California; Department of Statistics, University of California, Riverside, California
Tyler Davis, MS: Computer Science, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California
Esteban Morales, MS: David Geffen School of Medicine, Glaucoma Division, Jules Stein Eye Institute, Los Angeles, California
Kara Wu, BS: University of California Los Angeles Jonathan and Karin Fielding School of Public Health, Los Angeles, California; Biostatistics, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California
Elise Lee Ma, MD, PhD: David Geffen School of Medicine, Glaucoma Division, Jules Stein Eye Institute, Los Angeles, California
Abdelmonem Afifi, PhD: University of California Los Angeles Jonathan and Karin Fielding School of Public Health, Los Angeles, California
Kouros Nouri-Mahdavi, MD, MS: David Geffen School of Medicine, Glaucoma Division, Jules Stein Eye Institute, Los Angeles, California
Joseph Caprioli, MD: David Geffen School of Medicine, Glaucoma Division, Jules Stein Eye Institute, Los Angeles, California; Correspondence: Joseph Caprioli, MD, 100 Stein Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, 90095.

Journal volume & issue: Vol. 4, no. 2
p. 100423

Abstract

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Purpose: To evaluate and compare the effectiveness of nearest neighbor (NN)- and variational autoencoder (VAE)-smoothing algorithms to reduce variability and enhance the performance of glaucoma visual field (VF) progression models. Design: Longitudinal cohort study. Subjects: 7150 eyes (4232 patients), with ≥ 5 years of follow-up and ≥ 6 visits. Methods: Vsual field thresholds were smoothed with the NN and VAE algorithms. The mean total deviation (mTD) and VF index rates, pointwise linear regression (PLR), permutation of PLR (PoPLR), and the glaucoma rate index were applied to the unsmoothed and smoothed data. Main Outcome Measures: The proportion of progressing eyes and the conversion to progression were compared between the smoothed and unsmoothed data. A simulation series of noiseless VFs with various patterns of glaucoma damage was used to evaluate the specificity of the smoothing models. Results: The mean values of age and follow-up time were 62.8 (standard deviation: 12.6) years and 10.4 (standard deviation: 4.7) years, respectively. The proportion of progression was significantly higher for the NN and VAE smoothed data compared with the unsmoothed data. VF progression occurred significantly earlier with both smoothed data compared with unsmoothed data based on mTD rates, PLR, and PoPLR methods. The ability to detect the progressing eyes was similar for the unsmoothed and smoothed data in the simulation data. Conclusions: Smoothing VF data with NN and VAE algorithms improves the signal-to-noise ratio for detection of change, results in earlier detection of VF progression, and could help monitor glaucoma progression more effectively in the clinical setting. Financial Disclosure(s): Proprietary or commercial disclosure may be found in the Footnotes and Disclosures at the end of this article.

Published in Ophthalmology Science

ISSN: 2666-9145 (Online)
Publisher: Elsevier
Country of publisher: United States
LCC subjects: Medicine: Ophthalmology
Website: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/ophthalmology-science/

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