UBM shows good discernment ability with iris pigment dispersion

Researchers used ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM) to prospectively examine 24 patients (24 eyes) with pigment dispersion syndrome (PDS; 20 eyes) or pigmentary glaucoma (PG; four eyes), plus 25 healthy control eyes matched for sex, age, and refractive errors.

ROC analysis showed irido-corneal angle (ICA) and iris concavity (IC) in near vision to be the most discriminatory parameters, yielding sensibilities of 87.5 percent and 79.2 percent, respectively.  IC and ICA in far vision were also discriminatory, with respective sensibilities of 76 percent and 53.3 percent.  All UBM parameters in both near and far vision were statistically different between the case and control groups.

The authors concluded that while this evidence confirms the importance of iris movements in inducing the particular features of PDS and PG, the parameters they studied did not have similar predictive value for the course of the disease. This could be due to either the short follow-up time, relative to the time necessary for anatomic or functional progression of the disease, or to the fact that eyes considered at major risk of developing glaucoma underwent medical and/or laser treatment during the study. Another evaluation of the same subjects in the future would clarify whether major or minor deviations in the measured UBM parameters correlate with the risk of disease progression.