Deposited in DRO : 29

Background: Stereoscopic assessment of the optic disc morphology is an important part of the care of patients with glaucoma. The aim of this study was to assess stereoviewing of stereoscopic optic disc images using an example of the new technology of autostereoscopic screens compared to the liquid shutter goggles. Methods: Independent assessment of glaucomatous disc characteristics and measurement of optic disc and cup parameters whilst using either an autostereoscopic screen or liquid crystal shutter goggles synchronized with a view switching display. The main outcome measures were intermodality agreements between the two used modalities as evaluated by the weighted kappa test and Bland Altman plots. Results: Inter-modality agreement for measuring optic disc parameters was good [Average kappa coefficient for vertical Cup/Disc ratio was 0.78 (95% CI 0.62–0.91) and 0.81 (95% CI 0.6–0.92) for observer 1 and 2 respectively]. Agreement between modalities for assessing optic disc characteristics for glaucoma on a five-point scale was very good with a kappa value of 0.97. Conclusion: This study compared two different methods of stereo viewing. The results of assessment of the different optic disc and cup parameters were comparable using an example of the newly developing autostereoscopic display technologies as compared to the shutter goggles system used. The Inter-modality agreement was high. This new technology carries potential clinical usability benefits in different areas of ophthalmic practice. Background Early detection of progressive glaucomatous optic disc damage is essential in the management of patients with glaucoma. Accurate assessment of the optic disc can reveal early structural changes that precede field changes. In spite of recent developments in imaging techniques of the optic disc – such as the scanning laser tomography and optic coherence tomography-, digital stereoscopy of the optic Published: 23 July 2008 BMC Ophthalmology 2008, 8:13 doi:10.1186/1471-2415-8-13 Received: 24 September 2007 Accepted: 23 July 2008 This article is available from: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2415/8/13 © 2008 Habib et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. BMC Ophthalmology 2008, 8:13 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2415/8/13