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Complementary Therapy for the Treatment of Glaucoma by Robert Ritch

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Submitted by rritch on Sat, 02/13/2010 - 11:02am

by Robert Ritch, MD

From the Departments of Ophthalmology, The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, New York, NY, and The New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY Supported in part by the Joseph and Marilyn Rosen Research Fund of the New York Glaucoma Research Institute Corresponding author: Robert Ritch, MD, Glaucoma Associates of New York, The New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, 310 East 14th Street suite 304, New York, NY, 10003

Glaucoma is a progressive optic neuropathy characterized by a specific pattern of optic nerve head and visual field damage. Damage to the visual system in glaucoma is due to the death of the retinal ganglion cells, the axons of which comprise the optic nerve and carry the visual impulses from the eye to the brain. Glaucoma represents a final common pathway resulting from a number of different conditions that can affect the eye, many of which are associated with elevated intraocular pressure (IOP). It is important to realize that elevated IOP is not synonymous with glaucoma, but rather is the most important risk factor we know of for the development and/or progression of glaucomatous damage.

Non-pharmaceutical medications and approaches to glaucoma (all articles)

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Submitted by rritch on Wed, 09/15/2010 - 9:33am

The blog post contains several articles. Keep scrolling down past the references at the end of each article to read the next article.

Section Leaders: Makoto Araie, Robert Ritch, Clement Tham

Contributors: Makoto Aihara, Aiko Iwase, Sandra Fernando, Michael S Kook, Simon Law, Robert Nussenblatt, Vincenzo Parisi, Nathan Radcliffe, Douglas Rhee, Kwok-Fai So, Raymond Chuen-Chung CHANG, He Wei, Lori Ventura

Consensus points

  • Plant extracts have been used medicinally throughout history. Every society has plants used medicinally
  • Even dogs eat grass when sick, while chimpanzees consume a variety of non-food plants medicinally. This is learned behavior
  • Our modern pharmacopoiea of drugs were originally synthesized from plants used medicinally. These include vitamin C, digitalis, penicillin, and pilocarpine.
  • Chinese traditional medicine in its written form dates back 5000 years.
  • Technically speaking, vitamins fall into this category. We depend on essential vitamins from food for survival. There is a fine line between nutrition and medicinal uses of plants.
  • It was only in the 20th century, with the advent of single molecule products synthesized and patented by pharmaceutical companies and U.S. medical school philosophiesthat other non-pharmaceutical traditional medications came under attack, leading often to their being ridiculed and held in contempt.Thus, in order to get away from this view, we prefer the term “non-pharmaceutical therapy” to “alternative” or “complementary”
  • Many available natural compounds used as “non-pharmaceutical therapy” have been reported to show beneficial effects on circulation, the immune system, and neuroprotective activities in vitro and in vivo.
  • The mechanism of action of neuroprotection most common to natural compounds is antioxidant/free radical scavenging activity. However, many other actions are present and some extracts, such as Gingko biloa and curcumin have widespread activity on a number of enzyme systems.
  • Comment: Some of these compounds reportedly modify expression of enzymes relating to excitotoxicity, apoptosis, inflammation, lipid peroxidation, or immune stimulation. Some of these compounds have undergone clinical trials to evidence their effects on systemic diseases, including neurodegenerative disorders.

Continuous IOP monitoring devices discussed in Ocular Surgery News

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Submitted by rritch on Sun, 04/11/2010 - 10:30am

OCULAR SURGERY NEWS U.S. EDITION April 25, 2010

Three approaches for continuous IOP monitoring are being explored to find an ideal device that would accurately measure 24-hour IOP without IOP measurement noise, contact lens intolerance or other issues, Arthur J. Sit, SM, MD, said.

“We may just be getting to the point now with miniaturization, particularly driven by the computer industry, where we could potentially have clinically suitable devices,” Dr. Sit said at [a recent professional meeting].

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