Pathogenesis of primary glaucoma

The literature on the pathogenesis of primary glaucoma is extremely extensive, and there are a wide variety of, often totally conflicting, views. A wealth of evidence has accumulated describing the general state of the body in glaucoma patients and the local changes in the eye. The individual parts of the pathogenesis of the glaucomatous process, especially of closed angle glaucoma, have been studied in detail. However, there is currently no general theory of pathogenesis that satisfactorily explains all of the above key facts. Below we present a concept which we have reported and discussed at the joint meeting of the Problem Commission for Ophthalmology of the RSFSR Ministry of Health and the Scientific Council of the Moscow Helmholtz Moscow Research Institute of Eye Diseases in May 1970.