Hello and welcome to the zero to finals podcast.

My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to be talking to you about acute angle closure glaucoma.

And you can find written notes on this topic at zero to finals.com slash acute glaucoma

or in the ophthalmology section of the second edition of the

zero to finals medicine book. And you can find flashcards and questions to train your knowledge

and help remember the information for longer at members.0.0.com. So let's get straight into it.

Acute angle closure glaucoma occurs when the iris bulges forward and seals off the trabecular

meshwork from the anterior chamber of the eye. And this prevents the aqueous humor from

draining and causes a continual increase

in the intraocular pressure.

Increase pressure in the posterior chamber pushes the iris forward and further exacerbates the

angle closure.

Acute angle closure glaucoma is an emergency and requires rapid treatment to prevent

permanent vision loss. Let's go through the risk factors. The risk factors for acute

angle closure glaucoma include increasing age, a family history, being female, and females are four times more likely to be affected

than males, coming from a Chinese and East Asian ethnic origin, and having a shallow

anterior chamber to the eye. A tom tip for you, note the difference in risk factors between

angle closure and open angle glaucoma,

particularly in ethnic origin. Black people are affected more often by open angle glaucoma,

while angle closure glaucoma is rare in this group and more common in East Asians.

If an exam question mentions ethnic origin,

it's probably relevant as a risk factor and gives a clue about the diagnosis.

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