Intraocular Pressure (IOP) and Glaucoma Research

The pressure inside the eye, or intraocular pressure (IOP), has long been thought to play a dominant role in glaucoma; but recent work suggests that pressure from cerebrospinal fluid surrounding the optic nerve exiting the eye is also involved.

These pressures are not easy to measure, but Downs and his fellow researchers have developed a new system to wirelessly measure and record the IOP continuously in research subjects, and now want to extend that system to measure the pressure around the nerve exiting the eye.

Listen in as J. Crawford Downs, PhD, explains that using this system, he can definitively determine whether the pressure around the nerve is important in glaucoma, which could lead to new treatment approaches for the blinding disease.