Differences in the trabecular meshwork between Belgian and Congolese patients with open-angle glaucoma.
OBJECTIVE
To study the alterations of the trabecular meshwork of Belgian and Congolese patients with open angle glaucoma (OAG).


METHODS
A trabeculectomy was performed in 27 OAG patients from Belgium and 24 from Congo; the trabecular specimens were fixed, embedded, stained, and studied by light microscopy. These specimens were compared with the trabecular meshworks from 5 Belgian non-glaucomatous eyes.


RESULTS
The mean number (+/- standard deviation) of trabecular cells per field was 69 (+/- 10) in Belgian normal eyes, 34 (+/- 17) in Belgian OAG patients, and 10 (+/- 6) in Congolese OAG patients. The trabecular meshwork was collapsed and Schlemm's canal was closed in the cases with a diminished number of cells. Pigmentation was present in 79% of the Congolese and in 35% of the Belgian specimens.


CONCLUSIONS
The trabecular meshwork from OAG patients has a lower cellularity than normal, and the effect is much more pronounced in the trabecular meshwork from Congolese patients. This may be a possible explanation for the racial differences in OAG and the more severe forms of glaucoma in black people.
Pary-Van Ginderdeuren
P
P
Dept. Ophthalmology, K.U. Leuven, Belgium.
Kaimbo Wa Kaimbo
D
D
Goethals
M
M
Missotten
L
L
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001530:Belgium; D015023:Democratic Republic of the Congo; D005902:Glaucoma, Open-Angle / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D014129:Trabecular Meshwork / Q000473:pathology*