title: Angle closure glaucoma: a cause for bilateral visual threat.
abstract: Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of blindness worldwide. Primary angle closure glaucoma (PACG) is a leading cause ofblindness in East Asian people and known to cause bilateral blindness more frequently than other glaucoma. A retrospective study was thus undertaken to see the visual profile among these cases attending glaucoma unit. Total of 387 cases of angle closure glaucoma were seen in 3 years period. Out of these, 278 (71.8%) were females and 109 were males (28.2%). Among total cases, 61.5% had chronic angle closure glaucoma (CACG) and 38.5% had acute angle closure glaucoma (AACG) in one or both eyes. Bilateral angle closure attack was encountered simultaneously in 16 of the total acute angle closure cases accounting for 10.7%. Vision evaluation at the time of diagnosis among chronic angle closure glaucoma revealed blindness in 97 patients accounting for 20.4%. In acute glaucoma cases, after breaking the acute attack, the prevalence of blindness was found to be 8.9% out of total cases. Bilateral blindness was seen in 17.6% of total cases presented with either acute attack or chronic glaucoma. Mean intraocular pressure (IOP) was 32 mmHg (SD = 9.456) and 44 mmHg (8.67) in CACG and AACG respectively. Cataract was associated in 15.1% of CACG and 12.8% of AACG. Cataract related blindness was presumed to be present in only 4.1% cases of CACG and 14.3% of AACG cases who were blind. (p = < 0.001) Angle closure glaucoma is the frequent cause of bilateral blindness.
authors.affiliation: BP Karalla Lions Centre for Ophthalmic Studies, Institute of Medicine, Tribhuwan University, Maharajgunj, Kathmandu, Nepal. suraj_bpkeye@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Suraj
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shakya
authors.forename: Himanshu Ravi
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Gupta
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D001766:Blindness / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002908:Chronic Disease; D005260:Female; D015812:Glaucoma, Angle-Closure / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007429:Intraocular Pressure; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors