Purpose-To assess changes in retinal nerve fiber layer (NFL) thickness in glaucoma patients after filtration surgery by using optical coherence tomography (OCT).
Design-Retrospective observational case series.Participants-Thirty-eight eyes of 31 glaucoma patients who underwent trabeculectomy or a combined procedure of cataract extraction and trabeculectomy were evaluated retrospectively.Methods-Eyes were imaged with OCT before surgery (1 week to 6 months before surgery; mean ± standard deviation [SD], 71.3 ± 61.2 days) and after surgery (6-12 months after surgery; 247.2 ± 63.5 days) to measure peripapillary NFL thickness.Main Outcome Measures-Changes in mean and segmental NFL thickness with respect to age, postoperative change in intraocular pressure (IOP), preoperative visual field test global indices, and change in visual field global indices.Results-A significant increase in the overall mean NFL thickness was present after surgery (P < 0.0001). Segmental analysis found a significant increase in NFL thickness in the nasal, superior, and temporal quadrants. IOP decreased after surgery from 22.0 ± 6.4 mmHg to 11.4 ± 4.7 mmHg (mean ± SD). Twenty-eight (73.7%) of 38 eyes had an IOP reduction >30%. The mean NFL thickness increase (0.5-μm/mmHg decrease of IOP) was significantly correlated with the IOP reduction (r = −0.41; P = 0.03). No correlation was found between NFL thickness changes and age, preoperative visual field global indices, or change in visual field global indices.Conclusions-A significant increase of the mean NFL thickness, which was related to IOP reduction, was detected after glaucoma filtration surgery.Reversal of glaucomatous damage to the optic nerve head (ONH) and the retinal nerve fiber layer (NFL) after intraocular pressure (IOP)-decreasing treatments has been documented in congenital and infantile glaucoma and in chronic open-angle glaucoma in adults. 1-10 Studies investigating reversal of ONH cupping in experimental models and in human subjects after IOP reduction by medical and surgical treatments have been performed by evaluating In this study, we retrospectively assessed changes in NFL thickness after filtration surgery by using optical coherence tomography (OCT), which is a noninvasive and reproducible technique that permits high-resolution cross-sectional imaging of the retina. 12,13 Previous studies assessing the retinal and macular thickness changes as determined by OCT after cataract extraction surgery did not find any significant change. 14,15 Assuming that NFL thickness also does not change after cataract surgery, we combined the data obtained from trabeculectomy or combined cataract extraction and trabeculectomy groups for this study.
Materials and MethodsSubjects enrolled in the study were consecutive glaucoma patients who underwent trabeculectomy or combined surgery of phacoemulsification and trabeculectomy at the New England Eye Center, Boston, Massachusetts, from November 1994 to October 1999. Informed consent approved by the New England Medical Center Human Investigat...
Carnosine (beta-alanyl-L: -histidine) is a dipeptide with antioxidant properties. Oxidative damage by free radicals is one of the mechanisms underlying the aging process. This study was done to investigate the effects of carnosine treatment on lipid peroxidation and antioxidant status of liver, heart, brain in male young and aged rats. At the initiation of study, young and aged rats were 5 and 22 months old, respectively. Carnosine (250 mg/kg, daily, i.p.) was administered for 1 month to rats. At the end of this period, malondialdehyde (MDA) and diene conjugate (DC) and protein carbonyl (PC) levels, glutathione (GSH), vitamin E and vitamin C levels and Cu,Zn-superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) and glutathione transferase (GST) activities were determined in tissues of carnosine-treated young and old rats. Liver and heart, but not brain MDA and DC levels increased significantly in aged rats as compared to young rats. Liver PC levels were also significantly elevated. Significant decreases in GSH and vitamin C levels and SOD activities were detected in liver of aged rats, but vitamin E levels and GSH-Px and GST activities remained unchanged. Non-enzymatic and enzymatic antioxidants did not change in heart and brain of aged rats. Carnosine treatment decreased high MDA, DC and PC levels and caused significant increases in vitamin E level and SOD activity in the liver of aged rats. There were no changes in non-enzymatic and enzymatic antioxidants in the heart and brain of carnosine-treated aged rats. In conclusion, carnosine treatment was found to be useful in the decrease of age-related oxidative stress in the liver.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.