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Selection from the 14th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Glaucoma
Society
September 5-7, 2003, Tokyo, Japan
Makoto Araie
At the 14th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Glaucoma Society (JGS), the
Professor Suda Memorial Lecture was given by Yasuaki Kuwayama, MD (Osaka
Kosei Nenkin Hospital), together with a special lecture by Professor Hiroyuki
Shimizu (Gifu University), and an invited lecture by Professor Martin Wax
(Washington University). There were six symposia and eight luncheon seminars,
as well as 63 free papers and 110 poster presentations at this annual meeting,
which attracted more than 1600 participants. Moreover, this annual meeting
was given the chance to hold the WGA (IGR) award ceremony, which was attended
by many guests, including Professor Shu Narumiya from Kyoto University who
gave a special lecture on the function of small G protein Rho.
- Dr. T. Yamamoto summarized the results of the Tajimi Glaucoma
Epidemiological Study, which covered many issues on the management of
glaucoma in Japan, as well as various interesting characteristics of
glaucoma in Japan. In 3021 Japanese citizens from Tajimi City (78.1%
of 4000 randomly selected Japanese citizens aged over 40 years), the
prevalence of glaucoma was 5.8% (5.0-6.6%, 95% CI). The prevalence of
open-angle glaucoma with normal intraocular pressure was much higher
than that with elevated pressure. Interestingly, the prevalence of primary
angle-closure glaucoma in this study was lower than that reported in
both rural Taiwan and Mongolia.
- Dr. T. Yano found new autoimmune antigens in glaucoma patients using
the SEREX method. Neurofilament and Wave3 protein were identified as
candidates for autoimmune antigens. Antibodies for neurofilament light
subunits were found in 12 of 65 glaucoma patients, but in four of 69
age-matched normals (p < 0.05).
- Dr. H. Takahashi described the incidence of intra- and postoperative
intracameral bleeding by viscocanalostomy. Eighty-one eyes of patients
with open-angle glaucoma underwent viscocanalostomy and PEA + IOL, and
intraoperative intracameral bleeding and postoperative hyphema were
encountered in 27 and 43% of eyes, respectively.'
- Dr. T. Yamamoto presented the incidence of disc hemorrhage (DH)
in 14,431 (28,396 eyes) Japanese patients aged over 40 years. DH was
present in 89 cases (0.62%) and 93 eyes (0.33%). Twenty-two of these
cases were male and 67 female, and 65 cases (68 eyes) were glaucomatous
and 24 (25 eyes) normal. The incidence became higher with age. DH was
most frequently seen in the temporal superior and temporal inferior
positions of the optic disc. These data intimate the characteristics
of DH in Japanese.
- Dr. K. Maruyama compared the IOP-lowering effect of dorzoramide
1.0% and carteolol 2% when added to latanoprost. Either dorzoramide
or carteolol was added to latanoprost in both eyes of 24 open-angle
glaucoma patients for three months in a randomized, parallel group design.
No significant difference in IOP-lowering effect was seen between dorzoramide
and carteolol when they were added to latanoprost.
- Dr. S. Otani studied the IOP-lowering effect of switching from dorzoramide
to brinzoramide in 24 open-angle glaucoma patients who had been treated
by latanoprost, carteolol, and dorzoramide. In 24 eyes of 24 patients,
12 randomly selected eyes were continuously treated by latanoprost,
carteolol and dorzoramide, and in the other 12 eyes dorzolamide was
substituted by brinzoramide. During the three-month study period, no
significant inter-group difference in IOP was seen. In interviews, patients
revealed that twice-daily brinzoramide was preferable to dorzoramide
three times daily.
- Drs. M. Aihara and F. Mabuchi presented a mouse glaucoma model and
showed its high potential in glaucoma research. They introduced laser-induced
ocular hypertension and observed the optic nerve damage that followed
in mice eyes. Additionally, Dr. M. Aihara found spontaneous ocular hypertension
in collagen I alpha filament mutant mice, in which the mutated MMP-1
cleavage site leads to the accumulation of collagen I.
- Drs. H. Akiyama and T. Nakazawa reported that neuro-glial interaction
via MAPK may operate as one of the neuroprotective signals in a rat
optic nerve clipping model. After transient ischemia, MAPK activation
was observed in Müller cells and the inhibition of MAPK phosphorylation
partially exacerbated ganglion cell death.Using a rat ocular hypertension
model, Dr. M. Nakamura found that diabetes mellitus (DM) can be a risk
factor for the development of glaucoma. Apoptotic cell death by ocular
hypertension was compared between normal and streptomycin-induced DM
rats. DM rats showed significantly more apoptotic cell death.
- Dr. H. Oku reported on the neuroprotective effect of adenosine,
which was eliminated by adenosine A1 receptor-antagonists in a rabbit
model. Moreover, other A1 receptor agonists were found to partially
suppress NMDA-induced neuronal cell death.