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Eye Care 2018 & Public Health Congress 2018 Archives of General Internal Medicine | ISSN: 2591-7951 | Volume 2
S e p t e m b e r 0 3 - 0 4 , 2 0 1 8 | L i s b o n , P o r t u g a l
alliedacademies Joint Event on
PUBLIC HEALTH, EPIDEMIOLOGY AND NUTRITION
OCULAR PHARMACOLOGY AND EYE CARE
&
World Congress on
19th International Conference on
Engin K N, Arch Gen Intern Med 2018, Volume 2 | DOI: 10.4066/2591-7951-C4-011
EYE-TO-VISUAL-PATHWAY INTEGRITY OF
GLAUCOMATOUS NEURODEGENERATION
Engin K N
Saglik University, Turkey
Glaucoma represents a group of neurodegenerative diseases characterized
by structural damage to the optic nerve and the slow, progressive death
of retinal ganglion cells. On the other hand, impacts of glaucoma on the optic
nerve (ON), corpus geniculatum laterale (CGL) and visual cortex became
increasingly evident. Initial studies conducted with conventional magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI) and occipital proton MR spectroscopy. The
techniques that the first functional and structural findings have been obtained
are functional MRI (fMRI) and diffusion-tensor MRI (DTI), respectively. fMRI
detects increased neuronal activity via changes in blood oxygenation, DTI
is based on the movement principle of fluids in a plane connected to the
nerve. In consecutive studies from 2006 to 2014, we aimed to evaluate the
structural and functional extent of glaucomatous neurodegeneration in
an attempt to develop techniques feasible for routine clinical application.
In previous studies, we observed statistically significant correlation of
glaucomatous neurodegeneration between eye and visual pathways with
our original techniques developed with 1,5T MRI. ON, CGL damage and
cortical hypofunction were shown with DTI and fMRI, respectively. Our last
cross-sectional DTI study, which is yet to be published, included 130 eyes
with glaucoma. Statistically significant correlations were found between
ganglion cell complex and apparent diffusion coefficient, λ1, λ of optic
nerves. Strategies independent from IOP, concerning the area beyond the
optic nerve head, are needed in the evaluation and treatment of glaucoma.
As our studies showed, clinical instruments that are largely in use are also
adequate for clinical trials to reveal the glaucoma-brain connection; however,
more sophisticated techniques are being developed to illuminate that relation
further. A more comprehensive understanding of retrobulbar glaucomatous
damage will enable us to determine more efficient diagnosis, follow-up and
treatment strategies and facilitate to answer important questions which
remain unknown about this disease.
Engin K N is an Ophthalmologist and PhD holder in
Biochemistry. He has a strong focus on optic nerve
and his areas of interest are glaucomatous neurode-
generation, oxidative stress, neuroprotection and vita-
min E. Currently, his review article Alpha Tocopherol:
Looking beyond an antioxidant has been cited over 90
times. Along with other academic activities, he is au-
thor of 39 publications, seven special lectures, more
than 70 presentations, and he received six awards. He
is Member of ARVO, EVER, Society of Free Radicals
and Antioxidants Research (Turkey). Since 2005, he
has been serving as an active Member of glaucoma
division of Turkish Ophthalmology Society.
BIOGRAPHY