[Timolol and functional perimetric prognosis of primary open-angle glaucoma].

Sixty patients with open angle chronic glaucoma (O.A.C.G.)(31 men, 29 women), 102 eyes, have been treated and followed two or three times a year for a period of three to eight years in Hôpital Saint-Joseph - Paris. Patients have been divided into two groups: group A: 58 eyes treated for at least three years by timolol associated or not with an other treatment: medical, surgical or physical (laser); group B: 44 eyes divided into two sub-groups: group B1: 44 eyes, all having for at least three years a therapy for glaucoma (medical or surgical), other than timolol; group B2: 44 eyes, same population as in group B1 but where timolol as been introduced in the therapy. Perimetric follow-up was performed for all patients by the Friedmann analyser with a calculation for each eye of the total visual capability (TVC). For each eye, a linear relation according to time TVC/IOP has been established so that we could make a comparison of the evolution gradient of visual capabilities with time. It is a retrospective study. It showed that introduction of timolol in the therapy straightened the evolutive slope (severity gradient) of the Friedmann visual capabilities. But, this favorable action is only transient and only lasted three years on the average. In any event, whatever therapy is envisaged, even with rigourous follow-up, the visual field loss progresses inexorably with in the glaucomatous diseases.