New Technologies to measure Glaucoma Progression

5 1) Introduction Glaucoma is a multifactorial neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive structural and functional injury of the optic nerve complex (optic nerve + parapapillary region) for which intraocular pressure (IOP) remains the only proven modifiable risk factor. Assessments of both structure and function of the optic nerve are indispensible aspects of the glaucoma examination and disease detection, monitoring, and management. [1] Since the main goal of treatment is to either halt or slow disease progression, clinicians must be able to indentify patients at increased risk of progression and, most importantly, be able to detect and measure progression when it occurs. Glaucomatous progression can be detected clinically either by structural or functional tests, with change detected by either event-based or trend-based analysis.