Anterior chamber volume. Its measurement and clinical application.

Measurement of anterior chamber volume is discussed and attention drawn to a new, convenient slit-image method, which was used to study anterior chamber depth and volume before and after prophylactic peripheral iridectomy in the fellow eyes of patients presenting with unilateral acute angle-closure glaucoma. There was no significant change in depth after iridectomy but the mean anterior chamber volume increased significantly (P less than 0.01), by nearly 3 per cent. This increase was due to elimination of peripheral iris bombé which was not present in two control groups of normal eyes, one matched for anterior chamber depth and the other for age and refraction. Peripheral iris bombé may be a quantifiable factor predisposing to the development of acute angle-closure glaucoma.