advertisement

---

Top-Ten Southeast Asia Glaucoma Interest Group Meeting

August 26th-28th, 2004, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Seng Kheong Fang

The meeting had about 500 registered participants from all over Asia. There were eight plenary lectures, four symposia with a total of 35 talks inclusive of ten randomized clinical trials, free paper sessions with a total of 22 papers presented and thirteen posters.
The plenary lectures were:

1. Glaucoma in South East Asia, where are we now? (Rojanapongpun)
2. Dealing with glaucoma suspects (Goldberg)
3. Application of recent clinical trials in glaucoma to developing countries (Thomas)
4. Current trends in glaucoma therapy (Palmberg)
5. Investigating the genetic basis of primary angle closure glaucoma (Aung)
6. Normal tension glaucoma (Kitazawa)
7. Primary angle closure glaucoma, new ideas (Foster)
8. Exfoliation syndrome and exfoliation glaucoma (Ritch).

• There is no role for MYOC mutations in the pathogenesis of chronic primary angle closure glaucoma (CPACG).
• nno 1 locus which was linked with nanophthalmos did not link to primary angle closure glaucoma (PACG).
• Eyes with acute primary angle closure (APAC) have significant synechial angle closure at presentation; this suggests that peripheral anterior synechiae (PAS) may be an important underlying mechanism for acute primary angle closure (APAC).
• In subjects with chronic angle closure glaucoma (CACG), the intraocular pressure (IOP) reducing efficacy of latanoprost 0.005% was not affected by the degree of angle narrowing or extent of synechial angle closure.
• Travoprost 0.004% administered once daily is as safe and as well tolerated as latanoprost 0.005% in adult patients with chronic angle closure glaucoma (CACG). The data also suggest a greater mean intraocular pressure (IOP) reduction at the end of the day using travoprost 0.004% in CACG.
• Bimatoprost 0.03% administered once daily provided significantly greater intraocular pressure (IOP) reduction in chronic angle closure glaucoma (CACG) patients than timolol 0.5% administered twice daily.
• Preliminary studies show that immediate paracentesis seems to be safe and effective in controlling intraocular pressure (IOP) and eliminating symptoms in acute primary angle closure (APAC) for at least 24 hours.
• In comparing the diurnal intraocular pressure (IOP) fluctuations between timolol 0.5%, brimonidine 0.2%, and latanoprost 0.005%, in Asian patients with primary open angle glaucoma (POAG), the latanoprost treatment group had the lowest 24-hour mean IOP and had least IOP fluctuations which were significantly lower and had less fluctuation than the timolol treatment group.
• Both topical timolol 0.5% and latanoprost 0.005% caused significant reduction of conjunctival goblet cells and mucous granules, however there was no significant difference of conjunctiva surface morphology between the two groups after treatment.
• Medically treated acute primary angle closure (APAC) eyes may be more likely to develop peripheral anterior synechiae than argon laser peripheral iridoplasty (ALPI) treated eyes. There were no statistically significant differences in other important clinical outcomes between APAC eyes treated with ALPI and systemic medications.