Significant corneal endothelial cell density decrease in glaucomatous eyes

A group of ophthalmologists from Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Seoul, Korea, studied the changes in corneal endothelial cell density in eyes with normal-tension glaucoma compared with those in controls. The researchers found that there was a significant decrease in corneal endothelial cell density in eyes with primary open-angle glaucoma, but not in eyes with normal-tension glaucoma.
Published in a recent issue of the Japanese Journal of Ophthalmology, the study looked at 227 subjects in three groups: normal-tension glaucoma and primary open-angle glaucoma and a control group. The glaucoma (normal-tension glaucoma and primary open-angle glaucoma) patients included monocular and binocular glaucoma patients, the researchers wrote. Results showed the mean endothelial cell densities in the three groups were as follows: normal-tension glaucoma group, 2696.7 ± 303.9 cell/mm2; primary open-angle glaucoma group, 2370.5 ± 392.3 cell/mm2; and normal group, 2723.6 ± 300.6 cell/mm2. The researchers did not find significance difference in endothelial cell count between normal-tension glaucoma and normal groups (P=1.000). However, primary open-angle glaucoma patients had significantly lower endothelial cell counts (P< 0.001) than the normal group. There was also a significantly lower endothelial cell count in eyes with primary open-angle glaucoma compared with normal-tension glaucoma eyes (P<0.001). The researchers concluded that elevated intraocular pressure likely affected the decrease of corneal endothelial cell density in eyes with