Ophthalmology        INTERMEDIA

GLAUCOMA

Ulcer & Glaucoma 2

Forty-one patients with glaucoma and 30 age-matched controls underwent upper gastrointestinal endoscopies, gastric mucosal biopsies and rapid urease test (CLOtest). Saliva samples were also tested. Serum anti-H pylori-specific IgG was analysed. Helicobacter pylori-positive patients received a triple eradication treatment (omeprazole, clarithromycin and amoxicillin). All patients were observed for 2 years with the same antiglaucoma therapy. Helicobacter pylori was detected in 88% of glaucoma cases and in 47% of controls (p<.001). Helicobacter pylori eradication was successful in 83% of treated patients. Glaucoma parameters were improved in the subgroup of patients where H. pylori eradication was successful (intraocular pressure p<.001 ; visual field parameters p±.01). Kountouras J, et al. Eradication of Helicobacter pylori May Be Beneficial in the Management of Chronic Open-Angle Glaucoma. Arch Intern Med 2002;162(11):1237-44. hg (07/02)

Dear Sir, On behalf of professor Kountouras, I would like to thank you for quoting our research concerning the link between H pylori infection and glaucoma, published last year in Ophthalmology. Furthermore, I would like to inform you that the second part of our research has just been published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. We shall be glad if you also inform the readers of your site of our ongoing research in the field. Many thanks! Christos Zavos, MD Greece

Ulcer

You will find, in Ophthalmology, the original work of the month. It comes us from Thessalonique. This not randomised exploratory study compared 41 glaucomatous patients (of which nine had pseudoexfoliation) to a control group paired by age. Histological results of the biopsies made by endoscopy objectified an incidence of Helicobacter Pylori infection very significantly higher among glaucomatous patients. The most reasonable assumption is a predisposing common factor to both affections. However a possible pathogen role of Helicobacter Pylori in the glaucomatous disease, argued by the authors, is certainly not to draw aside and constitutes a base of future investigations.

Kountouras J, et al. Relationship between Helicobacter Pylori Infection and Glaucoma. Ophthalmology 2001;108:599-604

hg (03/01)

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