A clinical study of peripapillary crescents of the optic disc in chronic experimental glaucoma in monkey eyes

Arch Ophthalmol. 1994 Jun;112(6):846-50. doi: 10.1001/archopht.1994.01090180146049.

Abstract

Objective: We produced chronic experimental glaucoma in 41 monkey eyes and assessed the long-term effects of elevated intraocular pressure on the presence of, and changes in, peripapillary crescents.

Methods: Three readers independently plotted peripapillary crescent size and location using stereo fundus photographs before and after chronic elevation of intraocular pressure in 41 monkey eyes.

Results: Crescents were found in a majority of normal eyes. After chronically elevated intraocular pressure, new peripapillary crescents developed in only two eyes. Using planimetric analysis, crescent size was enlarged in five (22%) of the 23 eyes with preexisting crescents. Preexisting crescents became more apparent without change in size in a majority of eyes (reader A, 15 [68%] of 22 eyes; reader B, 17 [74%] of 23 eyes; and reader C, 13 [68%] of 19 eyes).

Conclusions: We conclude that peripapillary crescents are often present in normal monkey eyes but that they do not often undergo dramatic changes in size with chronic intraocular pressure elevation. The presence of a crescent was not significantly associated with the development of optic disc cup enlargement in the experimental monkey eye.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Chronic Disease
  • Disease Models, Animal
  • Fundus Oculi
  • Glaucoma / pathology*
  • Intraocular Pressure
  • Laser Therapy
  • Macaca fascicularis
  • Ocular Hypertension / complications
  • Optic Disk / pathology*
  • Optic Nerve / pathology
  • Photography
  • Trabecular Meshwork / surgery