Neovascularization of the disc in chronic simple glaucoma.

NEW blood vessels appear on the disc in many ocular conditions, but their appearance in glaucoma is infrequent. Duke-Elder (1940) describes the formation of new blood vessels on the retina and the optic disc due to glaucoma as comnmon, and cites several references from the older literature (Von Graefe, 1854; Hormuth, 1903; Bloch, 1906; Axenfeld, 1911; Kraupa, 1915). Fuchs (1951) also mentions the occurrence of newly formed bloodvessels on or close to the optic disc in glaucomatous eyes. But no reference of the condition in chronic simple glaucoma is found in any recent literature. In India neovascularization of the retina or disc has been known to occur in epidemic dropsy glaucoma where the fundus often shows retinal haemorrhage. In the Eye Infirmary, Medical College, Calcutta, where large numbers of glaucoma cases are seen yearly, new vessel formations are seldom encountered in conditions other than vascular glaucoma.