Background: Primary infantile glaucoma presents rarely, but can be responsible for significant visual morbidity. There is little information on the clinical features and visual outcome of a pure population of primary infantile glaucoma, as opposed to a mixed population of primary and secondary glaucoma or combined group of those with trabeculodysgenesis and iridotrabeculodysgenesis. Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of children with primary infantile glaucoma seen in south-eastern Australia between 1980 and 2000, using The Royal Children's Hospital ophthalmic diagnostic coding database. Results: Fifty-one patients with primary infantile glaucoma were identified (83 eyes). This equates to an estimated incidence of approximately 1 in 30 000 births. The mean ± SD age at presentation was 135 ± 84 days. 'Burnt-out' disease (megalocornea without raised intraocular pressure) was diagnosed in 10.8%. Goniotomy was the most commonly performed surgical procedure (69.4% of 72 eyes). Surgical success with one or two goniotomies was achieved in 74% of eyes. Visual outcomes at final review were generally good with 61.8% reading 6/12 or better. There were a disproportionately high number of children having a final recorded acuity of <6/60 in the group diagnosed in the first 3 months of life. Conclusions: Primary infantile glaucoma is a rare ocular condition in this population that presents at a mean age of 4.4 months. Surgical and visual outcomes are generally favourable.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Research Division:	Medical and Health Sciences
Research Group:	Ophthalmology and Optometry
Research Field:	Ophthalmology
Objective Division:	Health
Objective Group:	Clinical Health (Organs, Diseases and Abnormal Conditions)
Objective Field:	Hearing, Vision, Speech and Their Disorders
Author:	Mackey, DA (Professor David Mackey)
ID Code:	30847
Year Published:	2004
Web of Science® Times Cited:	23
Deposited By:	Medicine (Discipline)
Deposited On:	2004-08-01
Last Modified:	2005-07-12
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