Long-term effects of prostaglandin analogues on the anterior chamber depth of patients with primary open-angle glaucoma.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the effect of long-term application of bimatoprost and latanoprost on the anterior chamber depth of primary open-angle glaucoma patients.

METHODS

The anterior chamber depth (ACD) and axial length (AL) of patients using prostaglandin analogues for open-angle glaucoma (group I) and an age- and gender-adjusted control group (group II) were measured by ultrasonography. Patients using bimatoprost and those using latanoprost were also compared in terms of ACD and AL.

RESULTS

The mean ACD of group I (27 eyes of 27 subjects) was significantly lower than that of group II (30 eyes of 30 subjects) (p = .012). Similarly, the ratio of ACD to AL was significantly lower in group I compared with group II (p = .001). The ACDs of patients using bimatoprost or latanoprost and the control group were not significantly different by Kruskal-Wallis test (p = .056), but the differences of these 3 groups in ACD/AL ratios were significant (p = .004). When the Mann Whitney U test was used for pairwise comparison, there was a significant difference between the control group and the patients using latanoprost or bimatoprost in terms of the ACD/AL ratio (p = .008 for each). There was no difference between the patients using latanoprost and those using bimatoprost in terms of the ACD/AL ratio (p = .4).

CONCLUSION

The ACD of patients on prolonged therapy with prostaglandin analogues seems to be lower than than that of the control group. However, prospective long-term studies on large number of subjects are needed to evaluate the effect of each type of prostaglandin on ocular structures.