Octopus programs SAPRO and F. Two new principles for the analysis of the visual field.

The automatic Octopus perimeter has a large software development potential. An important property of the Octopus programs developed to date is their ability to distinguish between pathological and normal behaviour. At the moment, program development is concentrating upon programs in which criteria of normality are used as feed-back parameters during the examination itself, and thus guide the visual field analysis. This property permits the algorithm to undertake a precise spatial analysis of disturbed visual field areas, without wasting time on a detailed analysis of normal areas. The efficiency of a visual field examination program is thereby substantially increased (SAPRO* program). Using the F-program series, individual (as opposed to fixed) stimuli configurations can be realised, which may represent a better fit to a particular problem. The principles of two other programs, SARGON and DELTA, have been described before (Fankhauser and Jenni 1981).