Glaucoma: An Overview

Glaucoma is a disease known since the Hippocrates time. This term indicates a number of neurodegenerative diseases having in common a progressive optical atrophy resulting from the apoptosis of retinal ganglion cells, axon atrophy, and degeneration extending to the visual areas of the brain cortex, finally leading to the characteristic optical-cup neuropathy and to irreversible visual loss. The action of many factors including aging, genetic predisposition, and exogenous environmental and endogenous factors, is necessary for glaucoma development. In addition to ganglion cell loss, most glaucoma types are characterized by a high intraocular pressure. This is due to the damage occurring in the trabecular meshwork, a key region in the pathogenesis of high-pressure glaucoma. In normal-pressure glaucoma, pathogenesis is different with vascular factors playing a remarkably important role.