ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: To evaluate the diagnostic ability of the ibopamine provocative test for early glaucoma detection. METHOD: A sample of 44 patients with suspicious optic discs was recruited and compared with 37 controls with normal optic discs and no ocular pathology. The ibopamine test was performed in all patients who were then followed up with diagnostic tests for glaucoma, visual fields, and spectral-domain optical coherence tomography. RESULTS: Early glaucoma was diagnosed in 26 patients. The sensitivity of the ibopamine test to discriminate patients who had early glaucoma was 78.7%, with a specificity of 71.6%. In multivariable analyses adjusted for demographic and clinical variables, participants with a positive ibopamine test at baseline had an 8-fold higher risk of glaucoma compared with those who had a negative test; glaucoma risk was highest among ibopamine-positive subjects with initial clinical diagnostic impression of glaucoma. CONCLUSIONS: The ibopamine test showed an adequate diagnostic performance to detect individuals at increased risk of glaucoma in a very early stage of the disease. While further studies are required, the provocative ibopamine test for the diagnosis of early glaucoma is promissory.
