Primary angle-closure glaucoma and mononuclear blindness. Clinical pattern in 2 Inuit women from Greenland.

Primary angle-closure glaucoma (PACG) occurs in various clinical forms and is a permanent challenge for medical personnel responsible for eye care in elderly persons, for medical officers in the Arctic in particular. A clinical report is given of two cases: one with a destructive attack of classical acute glaucoma in a 46 year old woman versus another with a totally symptomless, gradual monocular blindness in a woman, aged 56. In both patients the fellow eye showed incipient chamber angle synechia formation. Peripheral iridectomy has given fully normal fellow eye function in the first woman, now for 22 years. The other had a recent YAG laser iridotomy in her fellow eye. The patients are described on the background of PACG population studies performed in Greenland since the 1960'ies, including gonioscopy and extensive anterior chamber depth measurements as attempts of early PACG detection.

[Eye care in Greenland in 1979-1988]. / Ojenlaegearbejdet i Grønland 1979-1988.

Specialist eye care in Greenland is described on the basis of 66 reports from all 30 visiting consultants during a ten-year period. During this time the durations of the visits increased to approximately seven months per year for 8-9 ophthalmologists who undertook approximately 2,500 consultations annually. The diagnoses were distributed as follows: 30% anomalies of refraction, 15% cataract, 12% conditions in the posterior segment and 10% glaucoma, i.e. a considerable proportion of eye diseases associated with advancing age and with a particular Greenlandic influence. The workload was particularly great and averaged more than a reasonable weekly load despite the increase in number of days of employment. Until 1985-1986, eye surgery activities showed a considerable increase after which operative interventions for cataract and glaucoma were mainly referred to Rigshospitalet. The great increase in the number of referrals is discussed in relation to the marked changes in the therapeutic possibilities for cataract and glaucoma: extracapsular cataract extraction with posterior chamber implantation using an operation microscope and YAG-laser iridectomy of early angle closure glaucoma. The requirement of an eye surgical unit in Greenland appears to be pressing together with continuation of specialist eye care in the districts.

Lens thickness in western Nigeria. A comparative ultrasonic study in Negros and Danes.

A comparative ultrasonic, oculometric study was performed in negroes, West Nigeria (151 persons) and in caucasians, Denmark (88 persons). The negros have thinner lenses than caucasians, and overall ethnic difference of 0.12 mm was found. Male negroes have longer vitreous and axial lengths than male caucasians (VB 0.56 mm, AxL 0.30 mm).

Lens thickness and angle-closure glaucoma. A comparative oculometric study in South African Negroes and Danes.

A group of Negro patients without ocular disease ("normal" group), a group of Negroes with angle closure glaucoma and a normal Danish population are compared in terms of anterior chamber depth, less thickness, vitreous body length and axial length of the globe. It is noted that the normal black population has a significantly thinner lens than the black population with angle closure glaucoma and the normal Danish population. The latter groups have a lens thickness which is similar. This finding is discussed in relation to the lower incidence of acute closure attacks in the black population. Attacks of angle closure in this populatin are generally of the chronic type.