RESEARCH ARTICLE
Weighing in Ocular Perfusion Pressure in Managing Glaucoma
Fotis Topouzis*, Panayiota Founti
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2009Volume: 3
First Page: 43
Last Page: 45
Publisher ID: TOOPHTJ-3-43
DOI: 10.2174/1874364100903010043
Article History:
Received Date: 15/2/2009Revision Received Date: 27/2/2009
Acceptance Date: 4/4/2009
Electronic publication date: 17/9/2009
Collection year: 2009
open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited
Abstract
The role of vascular risk factors in glaucoma is increasingly being supported by the literature, with the association between low ocular perfusion pressure (PP) and glaucoma being the most consistent result. However, we need to be cautious when interpreting these results and consider all possible confounders in the observed associations. While we assess PP through its principal components, the weight of intraocular pressure (IOP) and blood pressure (BP) in the PP equation remains unknown. Also, the role of PP in glaucoma needs to be elucidated with regards to IOP and BP fluctuation during the 24hour period and the effect of IOP-lowering and BP-lowering treatment. The complexity of the interaction of PP with other potential risk factors for glaucoma means that PP cannot be currently considered in the assessment of an individual patient. The role of PP in glaucoma warrants further research and randomized clinical trials assessing PP should include vision and/or structure preservation as end-points and ideally address all of the above issues.
