title: Visual and structural prognosis of the untreated fellow eyes of unilateral normal tension glaucoma patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the visual and structural prognosis of untreated initial non-glaucomatous fellow eyes of unilateral normal tension glaucoma (NTG) patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this retrospective observational cohort study, 50 NTG patients with unilateral visual field (VF) loss and no VF defect, retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) defect or neuroretinal rim (NRR) notching in the fellow eyes, and those who had initial non-glaucomatous fellow eyes untreated were included. For the fellow eyes, the development of VF defect, RNFL defect, and NRR notching was inspected retrospectively by two observers. Baseline clinical characteristics including initial intraocular pressure (IOP), central corneal thickness, and spherical equivalent (SE) were compared between glaucomatous and fellow eyes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  During the mean follow-up period of 8.77 ± 2.92 years, five patients (10 %) developed RNFL defect and four patients (8 %) developed NRR notching in the fellow eye. Among six patients (12 %) who had developed either RNFL defect or NRR notching, only three patients (6 %) developed VF loss in 1.81, 3.09, and 9.27 years respectively. The initial IOP was significantly higher (p = 0.031), SE was more myopic (p = 0.025), and the occurrence of disc hemorrhage (p = 0.049) was significantly higher in glaucomatous eyes than that in fellow eyes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The incidence of glaucoma development in the fellow eye is rather low. Therefore, the initial non-glaucomatous fellow eye of the unilateral NTG patient may be observed without treatment until glaucoma develops.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Sungmo Eye Hospital, Busan, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Hyun-Kyung
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Wool
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Suh
authors.forename: Changwon
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kee
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000959:Antihypertensive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006068:Gonioscopy; D006801:Humans; D007429:Intraocular Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D057066:Low Tension Glaucoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009412:Nerve Fibers / Q000473:pathology*; D009901:Optic Nerve Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011379:Prognosis; D012165:Retinal Ganglion Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014786:Vision Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D058609:Visual Field Tests; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D000959:Antihypertensive Agents