PATHOGENESIS OF GLAUCOMA

Abstract

To the Editor: I would like to comment upon the article by L. Christensen and Ray Irvine, Jr., Pathogenesis of Primary Shallow Chamber Angle Closure Glaucoma (Arch Ophthal 75 :490, 1966). The operation suggested by Drs. Christensen and Irvine has been described by Scott and Smith in the British Journal of Ophthalmology as Retrolental Decompression ( 45 :654, 1961). The drainage fluid derived from this surgical procedure is obtained from the capsulohyaloid sinus which lies anterior to the anterior hyaloid membrane. This might be considered basic biomicroscopy and can be readily demonstrated. Since the fluid contained in the posterior vitreous cavity (PVC) differs from that of in the posterior chamber, this fluid cannot be derived from the aqueous. The lens diaphragm moves forward because in the capsulohyaloid sinus pushes against the lens periphery (in a circumferential girdle of 3 mm), not because of aqueous lakes within the vitreous.