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Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 The next step in the Hong Kong research program will be to determine whether the severity of the silent infarcts correlates with the degree of vision loss in glaucoma, Leung said. Such a relationship would confirm the role of silent infarcts in normal-tension glaucoma, he said.
Dr. Andrew Iwach, executive director of the Glaucoma Center of San Francisco and a spokesman for the American Academy of Ophthalmology, said that while the Hong Kong study adds evidence that there might be a vascular effect in normal-tension glaucoma, "at the moment, the only parameter that has been clearly shown to affect patients is lowering eye pressure."
That applies even to people with normal-tension glaucoma, Iwach said. A study done several years ago by the Glaucoma Research Foundation found that lowering eye pressure reduced visual field loss in such cases, he said.
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But sudden changes in vision were seen in some study participants, Iwach said, "and one characteristic of a vascular process is that you can have such sudden changes." Though eye pressure remains the dominant factor in glaucoma, "we are continuing to look for other contributing factors, and high on our list has been the vascular component," he said.
Because glaucoma-caused vision loss can be insidious, the American Academy of Ophthalmology recommends that a comprehensive eye examination, with careful checking of the optic nerve, be done no later than age 40, Iwach said.
More information
The U.S. National Eye Institute has more on glaucoma.
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