Ekesten, Björn
- Department of Large Animal Clinical Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Abstract
Twenty-nine Norwegian Elkhounds with primacy glaucoma and 90 normotensive Norwegian Elkhounds without signs of ocular disease were examined. The median age of the glaucomatous dogs was 6.6 years (range: 3.9 to 13.0 years), whereas the median age of the normotensive dogs was 2.9 years (range: 2 months to 12.5 years). In the dogs with glaucoma, degenerative changes in the optic nerve head and less prominent degeneration of the retina were accompanied by visual deterioration, which increased with the duration of the disease. The iridocorneal angle and opening to the ciliary cleft appeared normal in early glaucomatous dogs, wherein the intraocular pressure (IOP) usually was only slightly elevated (in the upper 20s or 30s) compared to the IOP in the dogs without signs of ocular disease (mean +/- SD: 15.2 +/- 3.2 mmHg). The depth of the opening to the ciliary cleft was decreased in more advanced cases, whereas it appeared closed in the most advanced cases, where the IOP usually was considerably increased Lens luxation or subluxation was a common condition in eyes with chronic, primary glaucoma (21 eyes of 13 dogs). Haab's striae was frequently seen in chronic cases, whereas one dog had developed secondary cataracts. Obvious buphthalmos, easily detectable by the examiner, was only seen late in the course of the disease. The glaucoma was considered to be a form of primary open-angle glaucoma because neither dysplasia of the pectinate ligament nor obvious abnormal pigmentation was observed when gonioscopy was performed It is the authors' opinion that the disease is not uncommon in Scandinavia, although the prevalence is unknown.
Keywords
dog; Norwegian Elkhound; open-angle glaucoma; gonioscopy
Published in
Veterinary & comparative ophthalmology
1997, volume: 7, number: 1, pages: 14-18
Publisher: VETERINARY PRACTICE PUBL CO
SLU Authors
UKÄ Subject classification
Clinical Science
Permanent link to this page (URI)
https://res.slu.se/id/publ/107308