[Bimatoprost in the treatment of ocular hypertension and chronic glaucoma]

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and the safety of bimatoprost in an outpatient glaucoma practice and to correlate the responsiveness to this treatment with the central corneal thickness.

Our retrospective analysis included 55 consecutive patients (mean age, 66 years). Bimatoprost was administered in monotherapy in 32 patients and in combined treatment in 23. Mean follow-up was 5.5 months. In bilateral treatments (33/55 patients), only one eye (with the more severe defect and/or the higher IOP) was included in the analysis. The patients were considered as responders to bimatoprost when the observed reduction of IOP was > or = 20% and/or at least 3 mmHg compared with the pretreatment IOP. The mean central corneal thickness (CCT) was extrapolated from five consecutive measurements with the ultrasonic pachymeter Pachette.

Overall, the mean IOP was reduced from a pretreatment value of 21.1 mmHg to 17.3 mmHg at the last visit (mean IOP decrease, 3.6 mmHg, or 17%) (p < 0.05). Except for four patients (7.3%) who discontinued bimatoprost secondary to local or systemic adverse effects, ocular tolerance of bimatoprost was excellent in 62%. Moderate conjunctival hyperemia was present in 18%. The mean IOP reduction was 19% in monotherapy and 15% in combined treatments. Concomitantly, the percentage of responders was slightly higher in patients only receiving bimatoprost than in patients receiving bimatoprost associated with other medication (s). In monotherapy, bimatoprost induced a further IOP decrease of 12% compared with a previous association of two medications that did not include a prostaglandin (10 patients). In the 20 patients in whom bimatoprost had replaced another prostaglandin, a further mean IOP reduction of 11% was observed. The frequency of distribution of the responders to bimatoprost was not correlated with CCT (chi2, p > 0.05).

Considering the limits of this study, our results suggested that bimatoprost was effective and well tolerated in most patients. The decrease in IOP and responsiveness to treatment appeared to be slightly higher in monotherapy than in combined treatments, equivalent to a combination of two medications without prostaglandin and equivalent to or slightly higher than other prostaglandins. The degree of responsiveness did not seem to be correlated with CCT.