Study Results of Glaucoma

Sunday, December 27th, 2009 at 8:23 pm Post in Eye Diseases

Professor Isaac Schweitzer from University of Melbourne described a severe case of depression directly associated with the use of glaucoma eye drops. He pointed out in the October issue of the Medical Journal of Australia that glaucoma eye drops such as beta-blockers should be avoided by older people in controlling high eye pressure.

In July 2008, a generic drug named Sandoz Timolol Ophthalmic Solution was recalled because of an error in formulation which contained an excess of an active ingredient. This drug was claimed to control high internal eye pressure in glaucoma. The warning was issued by Health Canada. Improperly formulated drug can lead to side effects such as eye irritation, redness, inflammation, a droopy eyelid, heart failure, shortness of breath, low blood pressure and so on. Patients using this generic prescription eye drop was required to stop the drug immediately and asked the doctor for other drugs.

Researchers from Erasmus University Hospital in Brussels reported the potential of vaptans as a new drug class for glaucoma treatment. Vaptans was thought to regulate body fluids, so that they were suggested to control abnormal build-up of fluid and pressure within the eye. In addition, vaptans affect a hormone that regulates the body’s blood circulation and water control.

According to Mayo Clinic researchers, low cerebrospinal fluid pressure can be highly associated with optic nerve damage of glaucoma. Fluids within the spine and brain are responsible for maintaining healthy neural or nerve function. These researchers studied 31,786 cases of people whose cerebrospinal fluid samples were taken for analysis. The result showed that patients with glaucoma had much lower cerebrospinal fluid pressure.

Investigators led by Alcon Research revealed that there was a possible link between elevated eye pressure leading to glaucoma and “over-expression” of a specific gene named sFRP1. This new discovery may contribute to the study of the cause of glaucoma and resulting elevating of intraocular pressure. New therapies to treat the underlying causes could also be developed.