Chamber depth in primary acute glaucoma.

IT is well known that there is a connexion between a narrow angle of the anterior chamber and primary acute glaucoma. As the chamber angle differs in each individual, it may often be difficult to decide how it should be classified; there is no method of measuring the angle, and it is therefore justifiable to determine a measurement which gives an indirect indication of its size. The axial chamber depth can be measured with great exactitude, and it has been shown that a small chamber depth and acute glaucoma are remarkably often coincident (Rosengren, 1931). It has also been found that the shallow chamber in acute glaucoma probably exists before the onset of the disease (Rosengren, 1931) and is genetically determined (Tornquist, 1953). This particular structure of the eye may thus be considered to be a predisposing factor in the aetiology of the disease. However, little is known of the degree of reduction in cases of acute glaucoma or whether a difference in the predisposition can be related to varying degrees of shallowness of the anterior chamber. The following questions require consideration: