Abstract

AIM: We searched that whether chronic nitrate therapy is associated with retinal vasodilatation in patients with glaucoma. MATERIAL and METHOD: Retinal venous and arterial diameters are obtained from color fundus photographs of the optic nerve head to investigate any potential effects of chronic nitrate treatment on progression of glaucomatous damage. Twenty eyes of 20 patient who were receiving chronic nitrate therapy for systemic diseases unrelated to glaucome were selected. Vascular measurements were compered with those of 22 eyes of 22 control patient with glaucoma who did not receive any nitrate therapy. RESULTS: In comprasion with control patients, nitrate treated patients showed mean vasodilatation of %11 in the retinal veins and %9 in the retinal arteries. CONCLUSION: Our study suggest that chronic nitrate treatment in glaucomatous patientsis associated with retinal vasodilation. But glaucomatous damage degree was similar in two groupe. Chronic nitrate treatment does not affect retinal perfusion in patients with glaucoma.