Optic disc hemorrhage in Asian glaucoma patients.

Objective: To assess the prevalence of optic disc hemorrhage in Asian patients with established glaucoma using a recently described, highly sensitive detection method.

Methods: Patients entering a trial of glaucoma filtering surgery in Southeast Asia (The Singapore 5FU Study) were assessed for the presence or absence of optic disc hemorrhage using stereo flicker chronoscopy of stereophotograph pairs.

Results: A total of 167 patients (117 males and 50 females) were assessed, of whom 128 were Chinese. Primary open-angle glaucoma was diagnosed in 90 patients, primary angle-closure glaucoma in 69 patients, and pseudoexfoliative or pigment dispersion glaucoma in 7 patients. Five eyes of 5 patients had disc hemorrhage at enrollment (5/167), a rate of 2.99%. Four patients with disc hemorrhage had primary open-angle glaucoma and 1 had primary angle-closure glaucoma. There were no significant differences in global visual field indices, AGIS scores, or intraocular pressures between eyes with and without disc hemorrhage. All disc hemorrhages were seen in eyes prior to trabeculectomy.

Conclusions: The prevalence of disc hemorrhage in the current study was comparable to that seen in primary open-angle glaucoma in clinic-based studies of white patients, but far less than that reported in normal-tension glaucoma studies. Hemorrhages were more common in primary open-angle glaucoma than primary angle-closure glaucoma.