This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Guidelines issued for glaucoma treatment in Asian patients
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
BEIJING — An Asian glaucoma physicians’ group has released guidelines regarding glaucoma treatment in Southeast Asian patients. The group hopes the guidelines will help reduce the rate of glaucoma-related blindness in the region, according to a press release.
The South East Asia Glaucoma Interest Group (SEAGIG) released the guidelines after 2 years of collaboration among ophthalmologists in the region. The guidelines describe the pathologic and epidemiologic differences in glaucoma — particularly primary angle closure glaucoma (PACG) — between Asians and Westerners.
“Eyes in Asia and glaucoma in Asia are different from those in the rest of the world — you can’t take information and best practice in the U.S. or Europe and simply apply it here,” said Ivan Goldberg, MD, president of SEAGIG. For instance, he pointed out, the rate of PACG in Chinese Singaporeans is 3.5 times higher than that in Finnish people.
“We also know there is no ‘Asian’ eye,” he said, “that China, Japan, India all present their own unique challenges in terms of glaucoma diagnosis, treatment and management, which makes Asia-specific guidelines even more important.”