[Demographic evolution of acute primary angle closure between 2001-2003 and 2008-2010: impact of modern cataract surgery].

PURPOSE: To study the demographic evolution of acute primary angle closure.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

Retrospective study of patients with acute primary angle closure treated between 2001-2003 and 2008-2010. For each period, a comparison was made of demographic data (number of cases, age at diagnosis, sex), clinical data (biometry, presence or absence of iris plateau or cataract) and therapeutic data (iridotomy, phacoemulsification, trabeculectomy).

RESULTS

Fifty-two cases of acute primary angle closure were treated in the University Hospital of Nantes, France: 34 eyes in 2001-2003 and 18 in 2008-2010, representing a decrease of 47% in acute primary angle closure cases in 7years. The incidence of acute primary angle closure attacks significantly decreased from 0.0596% in 2001-2003 to 0.0224% in 2008-2010. Acute angle closure attacks secondary to cataract decreased significantly from 82% in 2001-2003 to 50% in 2008-2010. In cataractous cases with ocular hypertension persisting after peripheral iridotomy, cataract extraction was performed. Early phacoemulsification less than 10days was significantly more common in 2008-2010 than in 2001-2003 (40% versus 10%).

CONCLUSION

This study confirms the recent decrease in acute primary angle closure attacks. The consistent increase in cataract surgery in the elderly has probably played a preventive role, since the highest decrease in acute primary angle closure cases was observed among the 70-80-year-old population. Recently, acute primary angle closure cases are less often due to cataract than to primary pupillary block or iris plateau. The prevention of acute primary angle closure by gonioscopic monitoring in patients at risk is indispensable.