[Twenty-year follow-up of visual field defects in primary glaucoma eyes].

PURPOSE: The time course of visual field defects in patients with primary glaucoma was investigated for 20 or more years.

METHODS

The subjects were 51 eyes of 29 patients (open angle glaucoma, 40 eyes of 21 patients angle closure glaucoma, 11 eyes of 8 patients). The mean intraocular pressure of these subjects was within 21 mmHg during the follow-up periods. All the eyes were monitored with Goldmann's perimetry, and the visual field was graded using Kozaki's classification.

RESULTS

At the 20-year follow-up, 68% of the open angle cases and 45% of the angle closure cases had significant progression of visual field defects. There was no significant difference in average intraocular pressure during the follow-up period between the progression group and the stable group.

CONCLUSION

These results suggested that, in a follow-up of twenty years, visual field defects both in primary open angle glaucoma and chronic angle closure glaucoma can progress frequently, even if the intraocular pressure of these patients was well controlled.