The GONE Project

Despite the advance of technology that assists in the examination of the optic disc and neural fibre layer, optic disc examination remains the primary and most important skill in early detection of Glaucoma.

Glaucoma is sometimes missed because of not seeing the key signs that increase our suspicion.

The Glaucomatous Optic Neuropathy Examination (GONE) Project was developed at the Centre for Eye Research Australia and Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. In 2008 we posted GONE on the web and made it free to all that wished to test themselves on their examination skills of the Optic Nerve Head. Since then many thousands of people have voluntarily undertaken the GONE assessment.

From the feedback we received, GONE was very useful to the user and many people took the time to write to us and thank us. But it was also very useful to us: we collated a vast amount of information, and from this we could make sense of the errors that people make. We have published much of this in a series of manuscripts.

Key Publications

1. Chan HH, Ong DN, Kong YXG, et al. Glaucomatous Optic Neuropathy Evaluation (GONE) Project: The Effect of Monoscopic versus Stereoscopic Viewing Conditions on Optic Nerve Evaluation. Am J Ophthalmol. 2014.
2. Kong YXG, Coote MA, O'Neill EC, et al. Glaucomatous optic neuropathy evaluation project: a standardized internet system for assessing skills in optic disc examination. Clin Experiment Ophthalmol. 39(4):308-317.
3. O'Neill EC, Danesh-Meyer H V, Kong GXY, et al. Optic disc evaluation in optic neuropathies: the optic disc assessment project. Ophthalmology. 2011;118(5):964-970.
4. O'Neill EC, Kong YXG, Connell PP, et al. Gaze behavior among experts and trainees during optic disc examination: does how we look affect what we see? Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2011;52(7):3976-3983.
5. O'Neill EC, Gurria LU, Pandav SS, et al. Glaucomatous optic neuropathy evaluation project: factors associated with underestimation of glaucoma likelihood. JAMA Ophthalmol. 2014;132(5):560-566.