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Report of the Second Polish Glaucoma Symposium
Wroclaw, Poland, April 27th-29th, 2000
Hanna Nizankowska
More than 1000 delegates participated this symposium, accounting for
a total of 100 scientific contributions, presented either orally or as a
poster. These impressive numbers, combined with the high quality of the
presentations, made the second meeting of this Polish Glaucoma Symposium
cycle another great success. The main topics of the symposium were: the
diagnosis and follow-up of glaucoma; advances in the surgical and laser
treatment of glaucoma; and strategies in the treatment of glaucoma: epidemiology,
risk factors, quality of life.
This symposium has changed the formula of earlier ophthalmological meetings.
Its main stream, plenary sessions, were based on the invited lectures. This
new formula has great didactic value, creating as it does the possibility
for Polish ophthalmologists to meet many acknowledged world authorities
in the field of glaucoma B experts from Europe, the USA and Canada.
The Opening Ceremony was coupled with the award to Professor Stephen Drance
of the Medal of the Polish Glaucoma Society 'Optime de Glaucomatologia
Merenti' for outstanding services in the field of research into and
the fight against glaucoma.
The instructional courses were given by world renowned experts on specialized topics and were very educational: gonioscopy was discussed by Professor George Spaeth, ocular blood flow by Professor Alon Harris, and progress in glaucoma surgery by Professor Philippe Sourdille.
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Normal and pathological visual fields were used to develop a system for computer-assisted visual field interpretation, STATPAC. The new SITA programs, which have a model of visual fields before the test even starts, and where the patient's model is continuously recalculated during the test. The SITA Standard and SITA Fast tests provide threshold perimetry with a 50% reduction in test time.
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New trends in medical therapy for glaucoma are under investigation: influencing ocular blood flow, neuroprotection, genetic therapy and neuroregulation. To date, two basic approaches to optic nerve protection have been described: the use of trophic factors and axonal rescue. Unfortunately, the precise mechanisms that lead to apoptosis in this disease are still a mystery. The neuroprotective drug, memantine, acting by blocking glutamate at the NMDA receptors, is now under clinical development. The genetic therapy of glaucoma concentrates on two directions: using viral genomes for direct drug delivery of a trophic factor, and detecting specific genes that cause glaucoma. Additionally, researchers could perhaps develop new drugs to combat the products made by defective genes that reduce outflow facility, weaken the optic nerve, or worsen blood flow. Alternatively, the offending gene could potentially be 'switched off' pharmacologically.
