AIM: To estimate the prevalence of glaucoma among people worldwide. METHODS: Available published data on glaucoma prevalence were reviewed to determine the relation of open angle and angle closure glaucoma with age in people of European, African, and Asian origin. A comparison was made with estimated world population data for the year 2000. RESULTS: The number of people with primary glaucoma in the world by the year 2000 is estimated at nearly 66.8 million, with 6.7 million suffering from bilateral blindness. In developed countries, fewer than 50% of those with glaucoma are aware of their disease. In the developing world, the rate of known disease is even lower. CONCLUSIONS: Glaucoma is the second leading cause of vision loss in the world. Improved methods of screening and therapy for glaucoma are urgently needed.

https://bjo.bmj.com/content/bjophthalmol/80/5/389.full.pdf

Number of people with glaucoma worldwide.

Treatment outcomes in the tube versus trabeculectomy (TVT) study after five years of follow-up

https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/26516/0000054.pdf;sequence=1

Wound healing in glaucoma filtering surgery.

An evaluation of optic disc and nerve fiber layer examinations in monitoring progression of early glaucoma damage.

Ophthalmoscopic evaluation of the optic nerve head.

5-Fluorouracil and Glaucoma Filtering Surgery: III. Intermediate Follow-up of a Pilot Study

Glaucoma Filtering Surgery with 5-Fluorouracil

• Five patients with pseudoexfoliation syndrome (PES) and glaucoma developed extensive zonular dialyses during extracapsular cataract extractions. Weakness of the lens zonules or their attachments to the ciliary processes, which has been described in association with PES, may explain this complication. We believe that patients with PES are at particular risk for developing large zonular dialyses during extracapsular surgery. Preoperative phakodonesis, anterior chamber depth asymmetry, and excessive lens movement during the anterior capsulotomy should alert the surgeon to this problem.

Zonular Dialysis During Extracapsular Cataract Extraction in Pseudoexfoliation Syndrome

In a review of fundus photographs, changes in the degree of depigmentation or atrophy of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) were observed near the disc over time in 21% of cases with progressive glaucomatous cupping, but they also occurred as a natural phenomenon over time in 4% of eyes with nonprogressive glaucoma and in 3% of nonglaucomatous eyes. Thus, the peripapillary RPE shows some progressive alteration in normal individuals, but also may sometimes suffer along with the axons during glaucomatous damage. The acquired changes observed in the progressive glaucomatous eyes seem too small and too infrequent to account for the high prevalence of large haloes and crescents seen around the optic disc in glaucoma.

Acquired peripapillary changes and progression in glaucoma.

• We compared the peripapillary scleral and choroidal halos and crescents in the two eyes of 42 patients with unilateral glaucoma. In most cases, the edge of the three tissue layers (the retinal pigment epithelium [RPE], the choroid, and the sclera) that encircle the optic nerve head of the glaucomatous eye superimposed exactly on the mirror images of the edges in the fellow nonglaucomatous eye. Although the size of the peripapillary crescent or halo was the same in both eyes, it and the scleral rim were often more conspicuous in the eye with glaucomatous damage because the tissue edges were seen more easily through the reduced thickness of nerve fiber layer tissue. There were nine exceptions. In five cases, the peripapillary choroidal crescent (the area of choroid not covered by RPE) was larger in the glaucomatous eye. In four eyes, however, the crescent was larger in the nonglaucomatous eye, although the magnitude of the asymmetry was less in these four cases. Thus, in late stages of optic nerve damage, there was some RPE atrophy, but in most cases of glaucoma, the area of bared choroid was the inherent anatomic configuration of the optic nerve exit canal.

Edward J. Rockwood

Papers

5-Fluorouracil and Glaucoma Filtering Surgery: III. Intermediate Follow-up of a Pilot Study

Glaucoma Filtering Surgery with 5-Fluorouracil

Zonular Dialysis During Extracapsular Cataract Extraction in Pseudoexfoliation Syndrome

Acquired peripapillary changes and progression in glaucoma.

The configuration of peripapillary tissue in unilateral glaucoma.