[Evaluation of the anterior chamber depth and intraocular pressure before and after the operation of cataract in glaucoma patients].

The aim of the paper was to assess the effect of surgical extracapsular cataract extraction with implantation of posterior chamber lens on the normalisation of intraocular pressure in eyes with glaucoma. The relationship between the preoperative depth of the anterior chamber and the postoperative normalisation of intraocular pressure was also investigated. The study was carried out on 138 eyes with cataract and glaucoma. Simple open-angle glaucoma was found in 37 eyes (26.8%), simple closing-angle glaucoma in 67 eyes (48.6%) and glaucoma with the pseudoexfoliation syndrome in 34 eyes (24.6%). Before the operation the intraocular pressure in patients ranged from 21 to 32 mm Hg. The depth of the anterior chamber was measured by means of ultrasound method. Intraocular pressure was checked for 9 months after the operation. In patients with open-angle glaucoma the depth of the anterior chamber ranged from 3.1 to 4.0 mm, in closing-angle glaucoma from 2.4 to 3.2 mm, with glaucoma in pseudoexfoliation syndrome from 3.3 to 4.2 mm. After operation the depth of anterior chamber was from 3.7 to 4.6 mm. Nine months after the operation in 64 patients (46.3%) there was no need for giving pressure reducing drugs. The highest percentage of patients who did not require treatment (73.2%) was among eyes with closing-angle glaucoma with the smallest depth of the anterior chamber before operation. It seems that the measurement of the anterior chamber depth before the operation in patients with cataract and closing-angle glaucoma may be only the indication whether the cataract extraction with the implant of the lens is sufficient to normalize the intraocular pressure.