Switching from systemic to the topical carbonic anhydrase inhibitor dorzolamide: effect on the quality of life of glaucoma patients with drug-related side effects.

Background: The frequent systemic side effects associated with the use of systemic carbonic anhydrase inhibitors have adversely affected the compliance to treatment in glaucoma patients, obviating their long-term use. The introduction of the topical CAI dorzolamide has further reduced their use. However, the tolerability of dorzolamide in patients who have been intolerant to systemic CAIs has not been evaluated prospectively.

The learning effect in visual field testing of healthy subjects using frequency doubling technology.

Purpose: To evaluate the presence, duration and magnitude of a learning effect in serial visual field (VF) testing, using the commercially available frequency doubling technology (FDT) instrument.

Patients And Methods: 21 healthy adults with no prior VF experience underwent 6 serial VF tests, using the full-threshold C-20 program of the Zeiss-Humphrey FDT analyzer, on one randomly chosen eye. Tests were spaced at least two days apart.

Corticosteroid-induced glaucoma attributable to an adrenocorticotropin-secreting malignant carcinoid tumor of the thymus.

Purpose: To describe the clinical and histopathologic findings in a patient with corticosteroid-induced open-angle glaucoma attributable to an adrenocorticotropin-secreting malignant carcinoid of the thymus.

Methods: Case report. In a 33-year-old man, the clinical course, laboratory findings, and imaging results as well as the histopathologic findings are described.

Late-onset, bleb-associated endophthalmitis following glaucoma filtering surgery with or without antifibrotic agents.

The use of adjunctive antimetabolites such as 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and mitomycin C (MMC) in trabeculectomy has caused an increased concern as to the risk of bleb-associated endophthalmitis. In this study, we compared the incidence of this complication between different methods of adjunctive treatment in glaucoma filtering surgery. Records of 15 cases of late-onset, bleb-associated endophthalmitis which were admitted to the Ophthalmology Department, Hadassah University Hospital, between January 1980 and December 1997 were retrospectively studied.

Mitomycin-C in combined or two-stage procedure trabeculectomy followed by penetrating keratoplasty.

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of application of mitomycin-C (MMC) in combined and separate trabeculectomy and penetrating keratoplasty for the treatment of coexisting corneal disease and glaucoma.

Methods: A retrospective evaluation of 11 eyes of 10 patients was conducted. A combined trabeculectomy with MMC and penetrating keratoplasty procedure was performed in eight eyes (group 1), and keratoplasty was performed after a previous trabeculectomy with MMC in three eyes (group 2).

A comparative study of two dose regimens of latanoprost in patients with elevated intraocular pressure.

Objective: The purpose of the study was to determine whether latanoprost (13,14-dihydro-17-phenyl-18,19,20-trinor PGF2a-isopropyl ester), a new prostaglandin analogue that has been found effective in reducing intraocular pressure (IOP) in humans, is equally effective at lower concentrations than those currently employed.

Design And Participants: Fifty patients with glaucoma or ocular hypertension were treated in a randomized, crossover, double-masked fashion with 1 drop of latanoprost (50 microg/ml once daily and 15 microg/ml twice daily) in the affected eye(s) for 3 weeks on each concentration. Tonometry was obtained at 8:00, 13:00, and 17:00 hours at baseline (untreated) and after 3 weeks on each concentration.

Filtering surgery with 5-fluorouracil subsequent to Molteno implant.

In cases of refractory glaucoma, when Molteno shunt implantation has been performed and resulted in failure, the best surgical option has not yet been established. Filtering surgery with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) as one option for the above was performed in four non-neovascular glaucomatous eyes (four patients) after failure of Molteno shunt implantation. Injections of 5 mg 5-FU were administered once daily for 9-14 days.

Late complications after glaucoma filtering surgery with adjunctive 5-fluorouracil.

We studied 105 patients (105 eyes) operated on for glaucoma with adjunctive fluorouracil, who were followed up for 12 to 48 months (mean, 34.6 +/- 12.9 months).

Trabeculectomy with 5-fluorouracil subsequent to circular buckling operation and cataract extraction.

Six patients, each with one eye that had previously undergone circular buckling surgery for the repair of retinal detachment before or followed by cataract extraction with or without intraocular lens implantation, underwent trabeculectomy with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) for intractable glaucoma. Surgery was done through scarred subconjunctival tissues that were excised partially. The total doses of 5-FU ranged from 65 to 100mg (mean +/- standard deviation, 84.

A randomized study of trabeculectomy and subconjunctival administration of fluorouracil in primary glaucomas.

Forty-one adult patients with primary open angle glaucoma and nine adult patients with chronic angle closure glaucoma underwent trabeculectomy in one eye each. Twenty-one eyes with primary open angle glaucoma and four with chronic angle closure glaucoma were randomly assigned to receive four to six subconjunctival injections of fluorouracil for 10 days after surgery. Twenty-five control eyes did not receive fluorouracil.

Encapsulated filtering bleb and subconjunctival 5-fluorouracil.

Filtering bleb encapsulation (BE) involves fibroblast proliferation and collagen synthesis. We analyzed the effect of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) on the inhibition of BE. Forty-one patients with primary open-angle glaucoma underwent trabeculectomy in one eye as an initial surgery.

Delayed filtering bleb encapsulation.

Encapsulated filtering blebs concomitant with increased intraocular pressure (IOP) developed 47 and 6 months, respectively, after surgery in two women, 46 and 60 years old, respectively, who had undergone trabeculectomy operations in one eye. Both blebs were associated with mild anterior uveitis. Following treatment with topical steroids, cyclopentolate, hypotensive medications, and digital massage, the uveitis resolved and the IOP fell.

[Treatment of anterior uveitis with 5-fluorouracil].

Filtering surgery with use of 5-fluorouracil (5FU) was performed in 5 eyes (4 patients) with inflammatory glaucoma to prevent filtering bleb scarring. Postoperative injections of 5FU were given once or twice a day, according to the degree of anterior chamber inflammation. Complete remission of the uveitis was achieved in all 5 eyes after 7-14 days of postoperative injections of 5FU.

Toxic effects of 5-fluorouracil on fibroblasts following trabeculectomy.

The inhibitory effect of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) on fibroblast proliferation is well established. In addition, toxic effects of 5-FU on existing fibroblasts, in rabbits and in vitro, were demonstrated. We examined human subconjunctival scar tissue which was removed during Molteno tube implantation.

Regulating the dose of 5-fluorouracil to prevent filtering bleb scarring.

Repeated doses of 5mg of 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) were injected subconjunctivally in 25 poor-prognosis glaucomatous eyes after filtering surgery to prevent filtering bleb scarring. The frequency (1-2 times a day) and duration (minimum, 7 days) of injections were determined by the degree of the anterior chamber reaction and/or conjunctival hyperemia at the filtering bleb site. Punctate corneal erosions or filaments were not considered a contraindication to continuation of 5-FU treatment.

Subconjunctival 5-fluorouracil and herpes simplex keratitis.

We present a case of herpes simplex keratitis that appeared during a period following filtering surgery in which subconjunctival 5-FU was being administered. Although the 5-FU treatment was not halted, 4 days later the keratitis healed. The typical practice of discontinuing 5-FU treatment when these kinds of inflammation occur following filtering surgery may be unwarranted.

[Prevention of scarring of filtering bleb by 5-fluorouracil].

Scarring of the filtering bleb is the most common cause of failure of surgery for glaucoma. It is much more common when the surgery is for certain types of glaucoma, such as aphakic glaucoma, cases of previously failed filtering surgery and neovascular and uveitic glaucoma. In 31 such high-risk cases we injected 5-fluorouracil subconjunctivally for 7-16 days after operation to prevent scarring of the filtering bleb.

A functional vagotomy induced by unilateral forced right nostril breathing decreases intraocular pressure in open and closed angle glaucoma.

There is evidence of the central regulation of intraocular pressure, and it has been suggested that vagal tone might be increased in glaucoma simplex. The nasal cycle, the simultaneous congestion-decongestion response in the nasal cavities, reflects the dynamic lateralisation of the autonomic nervous system. Since this lateralisation presents with sympathetic activity induced by left brain hemisphere stimulation and parasympathetic activity induced by right hemisphere stimulation, it was subsequently demonstrated that forced unilateral nostril breathing induces selective contralateral hemispheric stimulation as measured by relative increases in the electroencephalographic amplitude in the contralateral hemisphere as well as alternating lateralisation of plasma catecholamines.

Filtering surgery with 5-fluorouracil: a second course.

In five glaucoma patients, a previous filtering surgery that was followed by sub-conjunctival injections of 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU) failed, due to filtering bleb scarring. A repetition of the filtering surgery with subsequent sub-conjunctival injections of 5 mg of 5-FU, administered once daily for 8-14 days, was undertaken. At the end of 6-19 months of follow-up, IOP levels in all five eyes were 20 mmHg or less with medication.

Laser trabeculoplasty in glaucoma. Ten-year evaluation.

Argon laser trabeculoplasty was evaluated in 134 eyes of 94 patients with glaucoma, over a follow-up period of three to ten years. Success was defined by the patient having intraocular pressures (IOPs) below 20 mm Hg under the prelaser medical regimen, or taking less medication, and having no evidence of progressive field loss. The overall success rate by three years was 70%; it decreased to 55% after six years and remained at this level thereafter.

Changes in intraocular pressure induced by differential forced unilateral nostril breathing, a technique that affects both brain hemisphericity and autonomic activity. A pilot study.

There is evidence of the central regulation of intraocular pressure, and it has been suggested that vagal tone might be elevated in glaucoma simplex. The nasal cycle, the simultaneous congestion-decongestion response in the nasal cavities, reflects the dynamic lateralization of the autonomic nervous system. Since this lateralization presents with sympathetic activity induced by left brain hemisphere stimulation and parasympathetic activity induced by right hemisphere stimulation, forced unilateral nostril breathing (FUNB) has recently been demonstrated to induce selective contralateral hemispheric stimulation as measured by relative increases in EEG amplitude in the contralateral hemisphere as well as alternating lateralization of plasma catecholamines.

Early intraocular pressure response following laser trabeculoplasty.

The early response in the intraocular pressure following laser trabeculoplasty was investigated in 38 patients. An increase in pressure was found in 16 patients (42%), of whom eight had a moderate (less than 9 mmHg) and eight a severe (greater than 10 mmHg) increase. The maximum increase was recorded during the first post-laser hour in 13 patients (34.