title: Identification of glaucomatous optic nerve head changes in Indian donor eyes without clinical history.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study is to develop methods to identify glaucoma by examining the optic nerve head (ONH) of donor's eyes when information on the preexisting ocular disease is unavailable.
  
  
  METHODS
  The ONH of the donor's eyes was evaluated under a stereomicroscope for the cup-disc ratio (CDR) and focal retinal rim thinning. The vertical diameter of the cup and disc was also measured using a precalibrated eyepiece micrometer. The suspect eyes were subjected to histological analysis to confirm the presence of specific glaucomatous changes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 202 eyes from 119 donors (68 males and 51 females, aged 42-96) were evaluated for glaucoma. Among them, 190 (94%) eyes showing vertical CDR in the of 0.0-0.6 range were considered nonglaucomatous and the remaining eyes with >0.6 as glaucoma suspect. The calculated mean CDR of the two groups (0.3 ± 0.16, 0.62 ± 0.27) was highly significant (P = 0.0003). Of 12 eyes suspected of glaucoma, 7 eyes from 5 donors showed specific glaucomatous changes by histology. The prevalence of glaucoma was 4.2% among the donors studied.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A simple method of screening fresh donor eyes for selecting those with glaucoma features using CDR and histological analysis was reported. This method helps to obtain biologically active human ocular tissue for glaucoma research on gene expression, ultrastructural/proteome changes, and outflow mechanism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ocular Pharmacology, Aravind Medical Research Foundation, Dr. G. Venkataswamy Eye Research Institute, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India.
authors.forename: Srinivasan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Senthilkumari
authors.forename: Mohan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Neethu
authors.forename: Radhakrishnan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Santhi
authors.forename: Subbiah Ramaswami
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Krishnadas
authors.forename: Veerappan
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Muthukkaruppan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005125:Eye Banks; D005260:Female; D005902:Glaucoma, Open-Angle / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D007429:Intraocular Pressure; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009898:Optic Disk / Q000473:pathology*; D009901:Optic Nerve Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D015995:Prevalence; D014019:Tissue Donors; D041623:Tomography, Optical Coherence; D058609:Visual Field Tests; D014794:Visual Fields / Q000502:physiology*