Expert Tips for Assessing the Narrow Angle
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Clinical Update EXTRA VIDEO & ADDITIONAL CONTENT AVAILABLE GLAUCOMA MD Roundtable: Expert Tips for Assessing the Narrow Angle moderated by sanjay g. asrani, md, with paul j. foster, frcs, paul f. palmberg, md, phd, and robert ritch, md, facs his article is part of an occa- Light vs. Dark sional series of MD Round- tables, in which a group of 1A 1B experts discuss a topic of interest in their field. This Tmonth, Sanjay G. Asrani, MD, of the Duke Eye Center, leads a roundtable on diagnosing the narrow angle. He is joined by Paul J. Foster, FRCS, of Uni- versity College London, Paul F. Palm- berg, MD, PhD, of Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, and Robert Ritch, MD, FACS, of the New York Eye and Ear In- firmary. Following are edited excerpts Angle is open in the light (1A) but closed in the dark (1B), showing the impor- from their conversation. tance of darkness in assessing a narrow angle. Next month, these experts discuss when to consider laser iridotomy for we had a lot of practical information So now, it’s uncommon for me to narrow angles. on how to do gonioscopy. Unfortu- get referrals from ophthalmologist nately, in the subsequent issues, much colleagues where I think that they’ve An Increase in Narrow Angles? of that practical information on criti- missed angle closure. But, certainly, Dr. Asrani: Do you feel that you are cal features somehow dropped out, and there are a lot of cases that come from diagnosing narrow angles with greater it would be nice to get it back in: for optometry where they have been re- frequency than your colleagues over example, no light through the pupil, ferred for high pressure, and no assess- the past five to 10 years? no fixation target, doing it in a dark ments of the angle were performed. Dr. Palmberg: I take it you’re ask- room, using a Zeiss-type lens, and us- Second, Even Third, Opinions. Dr. ing if we’re finding a lot of cases of ing the parallelepiped method. Ritch: About 30 years ago, there was angle closure that were referred to us Status in the U.K. Dr. Asrani: Paul so much angle closure that was undi- for poor IOP [intraocular pressure] Foster, what is your take on this? agnosed and misdiagnosed. Patients control by doctors who thought the Dr. Foster: In the United Kingdom, would be referred with chronic open- patients had open-angle glaucoma. Of- the system is probably slightly differ- angle glaucoma or primary open-angle ten, at cocktail parties, glaucoma spe- ent. We tend to get fewer referrals from glaucoma, but they had 90 percent cialists get together and say, “What’s general ophthalmologists. More of the PAS [peripheral anterior synechiae]. wrong with the general ophthalmolo- time, the referral has come from an And either people recognize that bet- gists? They’re missing a lot of angle optometrist direct to a glaucoma spe- ter now, or I’m not getting that many closure.” And I usually say, “Well, cialist. I think that glaucoma special- referrals. what’s wrong with us that we haven’t ists in the U.K. now are fairly sensitive I still see a few patients who have been teaching gonioscopy and related to the idea that everybody should have been misdiagnosed, but mostly I see techniques well?” gonioscopy. And I think the standards people who have already been diag- When the first Preferred Practice of gonioscopy have improved dramati- nosed—they have been told by one robert ritch, md Pattern for angle closure was written, cally in the last 10 years. doctor that they had narrow angles but eyenet 31 Glaucoma 2A 2B your technique of gonioscopy that Paul Palmberg started to talk about? Darkness Is Essential. Dr. Ritch: Yes. I agree with everything that Paul said. It’s really important, number one, to do gonioscopy in a completely darkened room. I tell this to my fellows and go over it over and over again. And after they’ve done six months of a fel- WHAT LINE IS THIS? (2A) Is this somewhat discontinuous pigmented line (arrow) lowship, I’ll walk in on them and they the pigmented band of the trabecular meshwork? The angle appears to be fairly tell me it’s a grade 2 angle; but when I open, grade 3. (2B) With indentation gonioscopy, the angle opens, and the same turn the lights out and do gonioscopy, line is clearly shown to be a Sampaolesi line, with a splotchy, “salt-and-pepper” the angle closes up. And I say, “Did appearance; below it is the true trabecular meshwork line, a continuous line with you do it in the dark,” and they say a “fine powdered brown sugar” appearance. yes. Then I say, “Real dark? I mean the lights completely out; the computer didn’t need an iridotomy, and the next a second opinion because of poor IOP screen off?” And they say, “Oh, uh, no, one told them they had narrow angles control, and they are being treated just mildly dark.” but needed an iridotomy, and another by other glaucoma specialists when I There should be no light through would tell them they didn’t have nar- diagnose that they actually have inter- the pupil. So the main thing is to use a row angles, not to worry about it. mittent angle closure or narrow angles. small slit beam—a little square slit— And I’ll give them the definitive And they are surprised that the other and look first in the inferior mirror. decision. You know, I had one patient glaucoma specialists did not pick it up. The superior angle is the narrowest come in, and her husband was taking So Paul Palmberg, I agree entirely with 98 percent of the time. If the superior all these notes. I said, “Look, you’ll get your ability to show the patient’s fam- angle is more open than the inferior a copy of the consultation letter. Your ily members the condition. angle, I consider that a potential sign husband doesn’t need to take all these With Teaching Scope. Dr. Asrani: of exfoliation syndrome. notes.” She said, “That’s not my hus- Also, sometimes I use the teaching Dr. Palmberg: And don’t use a band—that’s my lawyer.” scope that I have on all the slit lamps. I fixation target because that alters the encourage the family members to look pupil. Demonstrating Angle Closure through it when I examine patients Be Sure to Wait. Dr. Asrani: I re- With Video. Dr. Palmberg: For patients who are skeptical or doubtful of this ally encourage my fellows to wait 10 like that, I have found it helpful to have diagnosis. I show this to them on an- seconds after the gonio lens has been a video camera on my slit lamp. I show terior segment OCT by turning on the placed on the eye, so as to let the them the angle, and then I make sure lights and then turning off the lights, constriction of the pupil get relaxed, that there is no light going through the and then that convinces them with a to lose the effect of accommodation. pupil. They sit there—the patient and, lot more certainty. Paul Foster, do you When the pupil is in the middilated usually, the husband, not the lawyer— have a technique that you use in the position, that is when you see the angle and watch the angle close over a course U.K. to convince patients, or do they closed, and that has really allowed me of about eight to 10 seconds in the take your word for it? to diagnose a lot more of these narrow dark. And then, because they have seen With OCT. Dr. Foster: I’ve found angles than before. I do exactly the it, they believe it. (See Fig. 1.) that it’s difficult to illustrate the angle same thing as Bob and Paul, putting You can show them how dynamic closure to the medical layman. So I the parallelepiped light into the mir- it is and why it was that one doctor on agree that anterior segment OCT is ex- ror, avoiding the pupil altogether. one occasion and one at another time tremely useful, with scans made in the Dr. Ritch: I’ve concluded that 10 might actually have seen different light and in the dark, often showing an seconds is not enough in some cases. things, depending on the state of hy- open angle in the light and closed in Sometimes I have to wait two minutes. dration and certainly on the technique the dark. And as soon as patients see And after two minutes, they finally get with light through the pupil. So if any those images, they become convinced. narrower and narrower and then close one doctor does see the angle close, up to the trabecular meshwork. that trumps the observations of others. Expert Tips for Gonioscopy Dr. Palmberg: I guess that’s the In that way, patients don’t feel judg- Dr. Asrani: Bob, you pioneered the point of it, Bob, that if you see it stead- mental against the other doctors. concept of doing gonioscopy in the ily narrowing, you wait to see where Dr. Asrani: I certainly agree, and dark and promoted it. Unfortunately, it’s going to finish. that’s why I asked the question. I have very few people have adopted it. Would Getting Started. Dr. Ritch: I started been seeing patients who come in for you be able to share a few more tips on doing indentation gonioscopy when I paul palmberg, md, phd 32 january 2015 Glaucoma was a fellow, and I found that you have do is wrap my little finger around the des.