Initial clinical experiences with the Dresden 3D display in conjunction with the Heidelberg Retina Tomograph (HRT)]

BACKGROUND: For years the Heidelberg Retina Tomograph has been an established method to diagnose early glaucomatous damages at the optic nerve head. The major difficulty consists in defining the outlayer of the optic nerve head in a 2-dimensional reflective or topographic picture. A 3-dimensional presentation of the ocular fundus could ease the defining very much. The Dresden 3D-display tested provides a true 3-dimensional presentation of the HRT-values measured. METHODS: For the study 5 groups of prediagnosed follow-up examinations were formed, which in their course showed various progression. The examination firstly was carried out by manual defining of the papilla contour on the Dresden 3D-display and secondly by the new automatic contour-finding of the 3D-software. RESULTS: Through the 3-dimensional presentation a more correct position of the contour can be found when drawn manually. As a result some diagnoses of the 2-dimensional HRT-pictures had to be revised. The results proved considerable differences between the automatic outlayer-finding and the probably real position of the papilla borders. CONCLUSION: The 3-dimensional presentation of the HRT-pictures represents an subjective improvement regarding the accuracy of manual contour definition. In particular, the fact that it is feasible to make the pictures rotate around the axes offers completely new insights to the morphology of the disc.