Abstract
Abstract: :
Purpose: To investigate the long-term effects of latanoprost on intraocular pressure(IOP) and retinal circulation in glaucomatous patients. Methods: Twenty-two eyes of 14 glaucoma patients (mean age: 65.6) who were never given any glaucoma treatment were studied. Twelve eyes were POAG and 10 eyes were NTG.. The eye examination, tonometry, visual field (Humphrey field analyzer, HFA; program 30-2) and retinal flow (Scanning Laser Doppler Flowmetry, SLDF) were repeated before, one, three, and six months after the treatment of latanoprost. The mean retinal flow of the temporal juxtapapillary retina was measured and calculated using SLDF perfusion analysis (Michelson's program). Results: The average of mean deviation of HFA was –5.76±4.8dB in POAG and -10.76±8.7dB in NTG group. There was no statistically significant difference between the groups. In POAG group the IOP dropped significantly(p<.05) from 20.1±5.0 to 15.3±3.1 one month after, to 14.5±2.8 three months after, and to 14.0±1.9 six months after. In NTG group, IOP changed significantly (p<.05) from 14.5±2.0 to 11.6±2.1 one month after, to 11.2±2.1 three months after, and to 12.1±1.5 six months after. In POAG group, the increase rate of the mean flow from starting the treatment was 32.6% one month after, 27.0% three months after, and 27.6% six months after. These alternations of the retinal flow were significant (p<.05). The increase rate of mean flow in NTG group was 11.8% from starting the treatment one month after, 11.1% three months after, and 8.6% six months after, all of changes were not significant. Conclusions: These results indicate that Latanoprost as glaucoma treatment would be expected not only the reduction of IOP, but also improvement of retinal flow in glaucomatous patients except in NTG patients.
Keywords: clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: tre • drug toxicity/drug effects • imaging/image analysis: clinical