Optic disc size and glaucoma

摘要

The article by Uysal et al. published in March 2007 concerning effect of disc size on sensitivity and specificity of Heidelberg Retinal Tomography II in glaucoma was very interesting. In that paper stated that the mean disc area was larger in the glaucoma group in comparison with normal subjects (P < 0.05). This letter presents a theoretical explanation for this finding.In contrast to the old assumption that causally links direct effect of increased intraocular pressure (IOP) to glaucoma, recently proposedthat biomechanical factors such as tensile stress in the optic nerve head is the primary insult that leads to retinal ganglion cell loss, and increasing IOP is thought to act as only one of the determinant factors of glaucoma.