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Abstract #5779 Published in IGR 2-1
Target pressure--glaucomatologists' holey grail (editorial)
Singh K; Spaeth G; Zimmerman T; Minckler DOphthalmology 2000; 107: 629-30
The authors attack the whole concept of target-pressure. In fact they considere that there is no clearly defined single IOP level below which an individual eye is completely safe. Target pressures could be the result of a percentage drop from baseline, they could be arbitrary specific levels such as 12 mmHg for advanced injury, or they could be one level, e.g. 8 mmHg for every glaucoma patient. Even if the target IOP is conceptually useful the real clinical problem may be how to obtain that pressure. The definition of a target pressure in the individual patient may be based on the degree of injury at the time of diagnosis or on some information for instance from the patient history, about the rate of ongoing glaucomatous loss. All this information isrelatively fragile. In fact the authors ask the question whether we should bother at all with target pressures. They are hypothetical, continually changing, not proven accurate or efficaceous, in perhaps diverting attention from the real issue, the patient's glaucoma. They mention the danger that to much of value attached to a target pressure and that a naive or inexperienced professional may employ unnecessarily aggressive therapy for lack of a few millimeters of IOP response.
Classification:
11.1 General management, indication (Part of: 11 Medical treatment)
12.1 General management, indication (Part of: 12 Surgical treatment)
