Purpose: To investigate the clinical efficacy of a new patient-operated intraocular pressure
tool, the Proview® eye pressure monitor (PEPM; Bausch – Lomb, Inc., Rochester, NY), for
monitoring intraocular pressure (IOP) in patients with glaucoma or ocular hypertension.
Patients and Methods: One hundred and forty eyes of 70 Taiwanese patients from the Tri-Service General Hospital (Taiwan, Republic of China) who had been diagnosed with ocular
hypertension or glaucoma were studied. After being fully trained during an initial clinic visit,
patients measured their own IOP with the PEPM at home. The IOPs were measured again using
a Haag-StreitBern Goldmann tonometer (GT; Haag-Streit, Köniz, Switzerland) during subsequent
outpatient visits. The training time, assessment of the patients' ease of PEPM use,
and accuracy of measured PEPM IOPs in relation to GT IOPs were recorded and analyzed.
Results: Relative to GT readings, PEPM readings tended to be overestimated at lower pressure (<10 mmHg) and underestimated at higher pressure (>20 mmHg). Between 10 to 20
mmHg, PEPM measurements did not significantly differ from GT measurements. Up to 80%
of the PEPM measurements fell within ± 3 mmHg of the corresponding GT readings. When
consideration was limited to GT readings of ≥21 mmHg, PEPM measured IOPs of ≥21 mmHg
with a sensitivity of 80% and a specificity of 90%. The mean satisfaction rating of PEPM use
was 88.3 ± 2.0 (maximum, 100). The mean training time for appropriate use of PEPM was
17.9 ± 4.0 minutes. The older the patients, the longer the training time that was required.
Conclusion: Our data suggest that after appropriate training: (1) PEPM and GT measurements
correspond well between 10 mmHg and 20 mmHg and (2) PEPM could offer patients
with glaucoma or ocular hypertension an easy-to-use, substantially reliable means of selfmonitoring
IOP.
