34. “Computer-monitoring“ – what is possible?
Carsten H. Meyer (Bonn)
Purpose: To evaluate a visual self-assessment of patients following intravitreal (IVT) injections.
Methods: 15 patients received 3 Avastin injections on a monthly base. Prior to each injection
well as 2 months after the patients received a standardized examination including Snellen visual
acuity (VA) and optical coherence tomography (OCT). During this time patients were trained
to evaluate their central VA by 3 computer-base tests:
a) VA was examined by the patient on a computer-based vision chart and
b) subjectively categorized as "same", "worse" or "better".
c) The edge of metamorphopsia was outline on a digital Amsler grid.
Results: VA improved during the 3 injections by > 2 lines (13/15). The self-assessment demonstrated
subjective improvement (13/15), of a gain of 2 or more lines or decreased central metamorphopsia
(12/15). Reevaluation 2 months later demonstrated a decline of > 1 Snellen line or increased retinal thickness
on OCT (8/15), and a decline of > 1 line or an enlarged metamorphopsia on the computer-base tests (6/15).
Conclusion: Our pilot study demonstrated a good correlation between the professional examination and the self-assessment.
Selected patients can define their visual impairment. A web-based VA-evaluation may help to screen patients after IVT-injections
on a regular base at home.