Study on the Effect of Ginkgo Biloba Extract on Optic Nerve in Progressive Normal-tension Glaucoma Patients / 浙江中医药大学学报

[Objective] To evaluate the effect of Ginkgo biloba extract on optic nerve in progressive normal-tension glaucoma patients. [Methods] 60 cases of patients suffered from controlled normal-tension glaucoma were randomly divided into control and treatment groups, 30 cases in each respectively. The patients in the control group received the conventional treatment(eye drops or surgical treatment), additionally the patients in the treatment group received Ginkgo biloba extract(twice a day ,1ml each time). 5 months was a therapeutic course, after 3 therapeutic courses the best corrected visual acuity, ocular hemodynamics, visual field, retinal nerve fiber layer thickness and optic disc data were detected and statistically studied. [Results] There was no significant difference in the best corrected visual acuity between control group and treatment group( P>0.05). The end diastolic velocity(EDV), peak systolic velocity(PSV) were increased significantly and resistive index(RI) was decreased significantly in treatment group after treatment( P<0.05), while the EDV, PSA, RI in control group before and after treatment were without significant differences( P>0.05). The mean visual field defects(MD) in treatment group after treatment were much lower than the control group( P<0.05). The reduction trends of the retinal nerve fiber layer thickness and rim area in treatment group after treatment were slower than control group significantly decreased( P<0.05). [Conclusion] Ginkgo biloba extract can improve the ocular hemodynamics, delay the deterioration of the best corrected visual acuity and visual field damage, extend the losing time of visual retinal nerve fiber layer thickness and rim area. It has protective effect on optic nerve in normal-tension glaucoma.

Diverse Types of Glaucoma in Patients with Pseudoexfoliation Syndrome: Normal Pressure Glaucoma

PURPOSE: To evaluate the types of glaucoma in patients with pseudoexfoliation syndrome (PXS) and analyze the glaucomatous changes in patients with normal intraocular pressure (IOP). METHODS: A retrospective chart analysis of patients diagnosed with PXS was performed. The types of glaucoma were classified based on the IOP, optic disc examination, visual field test results, and optical coherence tomography (OCT) results. Other than those with pseudoexfoliative glaucoma (PXG), the normal IOP patients with PXS were divided into glaucomatous and non-glaucomatous groups. Later, the glaucomatous group was clinically compared to the non-glaucomatous group. RESULTS: The records of 40 patients with PXS were evaluated. Among the 48 PXS eyes, high pressure glaucoma was found in 21 eyes (43.75%), low pressure glaucoma in 5 eyes (10.42%), and non-glaucoma in 19 eyes (39.58%). However, in the 32 fellow eyes without PXS, 2 eyes (6.25%), 8 eyes (25%), and 20 eyes (62.5%) showed the above diseases, respectively. In result, PXS affected the glaucomatous change (odds ratio = 2.544, p = 0.045). By contrast, in PXS patients with normal IOP, PXS did not affect the glaucomatous change (p = 0.519). CONCLUSIONS: Diverse types of glaucoma including low pressure glaucoma may exist in patients with PXS. Considering the possibility of low pressure glaucoma in patients with PXS is necessary.

Intraocular Pressure in Korean Newborn Infant

Measuring the intraocular pressure is necessary for diagnosis, treatment and evaluation of prognosis in all glaucoma suspect cases. Since visual field analysis of a newborn infant is impossible, the diagnosis of congenital glaucoma depends exclusively on the value of intraocular pressure. The normal values of intraocular pressure in newborn infants and children are variable according to many authors. Until 1970, the average of infants' intraocular pressure was reported to be equal to or somewhat higher than that of adults. On the other hand, it has been generally believed to be definitely lower than that of adults since 1970. Precise measurement of intraocular pressure in infants is difficult and the value varies according to many factors such as general anesthesia, anesthetics used, depth of anesthesia and types of apparatus used. We studied the value of intraocular pressure of infants under 120 hours of age. After mummifying the infant, topical anestheics was instilled and the lids were opened with an infant size eye speculum and intraocular pressure was measured using a Perkin's hand-held applanation tonometer. The results were as follows: The mean value of the intraocular pressure for the right eye was 10.27 +/- 2.01mmHg and 10.25 +/- 1.80mmHg for the left eye. The range of the intraocular pressure was 6.5~6mmHg for the right eye and 6.6~6mmHg for the left eye.

Normal intraocular pressure.

A study of the intraocular pressure on 1,000 apparently normal eyes, from 668 women (66.8%) and 332 men (33.2%) in whose ages ranged from 14 to 81 years (mean age = 50.16 years) revealed the mean intraocular pressure of 15.16 + 3.11 mmHg with the highest range at 21.38 mmHg. The maximum pressure among subjects in the 50-59 years age-group was 22.26 mmHg. In women the mean intraocular pressure was 15.04 + 3.07 mmHg, and in men 15.38 + 3.18 mmHg. The maximum intraocular pressure among women aged 40-49 years was 21.64 mmHg, while among men aged 50-59 years was 23.24 mmHg.