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HRT: Monitoring change is the key.
No matter how much clinical information we gather, glaucoma is difficult to diagnose in some patients. Frankly, this will always be the case, despite new technology. But, managing glaucoma is even more complex. This is when we need the most accurate tools we can get our hands on. The HRT is an important tool for those of us who are serious about managing glaucoma on a long-term basis.
what It Does
The HRT--it stands for Heidelberg Retina Tomograph, a confocal scanning microscope made by Heidelberg Engineering Inc. of Carlsbad, Calif.--helps you manage glaucoma by measuring cup shape, height variation contours, mean retinal nerve fiber layer thickness and rim volume.
It gives you a three-dimensional analysis of retinal images, and allows for a quantitative assessment of the optic nerve and the retinal topography. Importantly, you can quantify topographic changes over time, which is critical when you're managing glaucoma.
The HRT is easy to use. You can perform testing on dilated or undilated eyes. It also has high patient acceptance. You can acquire an image in two seconds. The user defines a contour line that identifies the margin of the optic nerve. The computer software analyzes the data and provides the measurements.
The instrument obtains 64 individual scans, starting anterior to the optic nerve and continuing up to and beyond the base of the cup. The instrument then stacks the images to form a topographic image of the optic nerve, and then rapidly analyzes the data.