OVERVIEW

Glaucoma: Updates from the AAO 2019 Annual Meeting is organized by ScientiaCME.

Release Date: April 10, 2020
Expiration Date: April 10, 2022

Target Audience:
HCPs consist of experts in retinal disorders and comprehensive ophthalmology; Those who practice Ophthalmology as physician assistants or nurse practitioners; and any other HCPs who are interested in or have clinical encounters with glaucoma patients.

Description:
Glaucoma is a diverse disease that causes irreversible vision loss and affects up to six million people in the United States, with an equal number of people worldwide suffering from glaucoma-related bilateral blindness. Glaucoma is becoming more common, and by 2040, more than 100 million individuals worldwide will have the disease. Due to the asymptomatic nature of glaucoma, almost half of all people with the disease are completely ignorant of their condition. Although excellent management measures have reduced the incidence of glaucoma-related blindness over the last 20 years, 13 percent to 40% of patients with glaucoma still suffer unilateral or bilateral blindness at a rate of 1.1 percent each year.

There are both unmodifiable (e.g. race, genetics, age) and modifiable risk factors for blindness in patients with glaucoma. Various factors can be modified that may cause blindness, including high IOP at diagnosis, ineffective control of IOP, and nonadherence to medications. Currently, there is no evidence that ophthalmologists are addressing these modifiable risk factors in order to reduce the incidence of glaucoma-related blindness.

Learning Objectives:
In order to complete this illuminative activity, participants should be better able to:
• Summarize the most important glaucoma discoveries from the AAO 2019 meeting, such as diagnostic testing, therapeutic success, and upcoming therapies, and apply what you learned to patients with various types of glaucoma.
• Refer back to the Horizon, LiGHT, and OHTS studies.
• Identify conditions that can masquerade as normal-tension glaucoma (NTG), and what your blood pressure means for the management of NTG.
• Summarize the role of the following in glaucoma: hemoglobin video imaging, bimatoprost sustained-release implant, and the micro shunt technology.