Abstract
Background and Objective: Glaucoma is a progressive optic neuropathy in which the optic nerve is damaged. The optic nerve is exposed not only to intraocular pressure (IOP) in the eye, but also to intracranial pressure (ICP), as it is surrounded by cerebrospinal fluid in the subarachnoid space. Here, we analyse ICP differences between patients with glaucoma and healthy subjects (HSs). Materials and Methods: Ninety-five patients with normal-tension glaucoma (NTG), 60 patients with high-tension glaucoma (HTG), and 62 HSs were included in the prospective clinical study, and ICP was measured non-invasively by two-depth transcranial Doppler (TCD). Results: The mean ICP of NTG patients (9.42 ± 2.83 mmHg) was significantly lower than that of HSs (10.73 ± 2.16 mmHg) (p = 0.007). The mean ICP of HTG patients (8.11 ± 2.68 mmHg) was significantly lower than that of NTG patients (9.42 ± 2.83 mmHg) (p = 0.008) and significantly lower than that of HSs (10.73 ± 2.16 mmHg) (p < 0.001). Conclusions: An abnormal ICP value could be one of the many influential factors in the optic nerve degeneration of NTG patients and should be considered as such instead of just being regarded as a “low ICP”.
Highlights
Glaucoma is a progressive optic neuropathy leading to irreversible vision loss, and is characterised by structural degeneration of the optic nerve head
Three studies where direct measurements of intracranial pressure (ICP) were performed have demonstrated that ICP is significantly lower in normal-tension glaucoma (NTG) patients than in high-tension glaucoma (HTG) patients or healthy subjects (HSs) [6,8,9,10], suggesting that ICP has an impact on glaucoma [11,12]
NTG patients had significantly (p < 0.05) lower intraocular pressure (IOP) compared to HTG patients (Figure 1)
Summary
Glaucoma is a progressive optic neuropathy leading to irreversible vision loss, and is characterised by structural degeneration of the optic nerve head. The LC plays an important role as a barrier between intraocular pressure (IOP) and intracranial pressure (ICP) [4,5]. Three studies where direct measurements of ICP were performed have demonstrated that ICP is significantly lower in NTG patients than in HTG patients or healthy subjects (HSs) [6,8,9,10], suggesting that ICP has an impact on glaucoma [11,12]. The optic nerve is exposed to intraocular pressure (IOP) in the eye, and to intracranial pressure (ICP), as it is surrounded by cerebrospinal fluid in the subarachnoid space. We analyse ICP differences between patients with glaucoma and healthy subjects (HSs)
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