Abstract
Purpose :
To estimate the prevalence of narrow anterior chamber angle conditions in a predominantly Caucasian population by studying the East Kent region of the United Kingdom.
Methods :
A review was done of all patients attending a secondary care ophthalmology general clinic over a three-year period. Patients were assessed with: SD OCT, Humphrey visual field analyser, Ziess Forum and high frequency ultrasound and categorised into various narrow angle conditions. These were: primary narrow angle but non-occludable, narrow angle with raised IOP, occludable narrow angles, chronic narrow angle glaucoma, narrow Van Herrick but open angles, plateau iris configuration, plateau iris syndrome and phacomorphic narrow angle.
Results :
A total of 14,520 patients, all of whom were between 40-89 years old, were referred to the clinic, of those 10,491 attended and were analysed. 674 (6.4%) of the patients had some classification of narrow angle condition. The majority of these patients were at relative low risk of pathology such as non-occludable narrow angles (359/53.3%) and narrow Van Herrick but open angles (93/13.8%). 0.55% of the total study population, or 8.8% of all the narrow angle patients, had an occludable angle with or without increased intraocular pressure or peripheral synechiae. Plateau iris pathology was seen in 68(10.1%) of patients with 18 of these having confirmed plateau iris syndrome after peripheral iridotomy. Phacomorphic pathology was confirmed in 75 (11.1%) patients
Conclusions :
Narrow anterior chamber angles are present in a relatively large proportion (6.4%) of the patients, above the age of 40, attending general ophthalmology clinics in Caucasian populations. The majority of these (67%) are at low risk of developing acute or chronic angle closure glaucoma. Of those that can be considered high risk it may be beneficial to offer a prophylactic peripheral iridotomy or cataract surgery depending upon pathology identified on UBM.
This is a 2020 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.