Effect on intraocular pressure of switching from latanoprost and travoprost monotherapy to timolol fixed combinations in patients with normal-tension glaucoma

Purpose. to evaluate the effect on intraocular pressure (iop) of switching from latanoprost and travoprost monotherapy to timolol fixed combinations in japanese patients with normal-tension glaucoma (ntg). methods. 27 ntg patients (54 eyes) were compared iop,superficial punctuate keratitis (spk) scores,and conjunctival injection scores in eyes treated with prostaglandin (pg) or pg analog/beta-blocker (pg/b) fixed-combination 6 months after the change in therapy. results. the mean baseline intraocular pressure was 17.4±1.59 mmhg in eyes receiving pg therapy only and 17.4±1.69 mmhg in eyes switched to pg/b. switching to fixed combination therapy from pg monotherapy,the mean iop was 13.1±1.79 mmhg (p<0.001) (-24.71% reduction from baseline) at 6 months. the mean conjunctival injection score was 0.69 for eyes on pg monotherapy and 0.56 for eyes on fixed combination therapy (p=0.028). the mean spk scores were 0.46 and 0.53. this difference was not statistically significant (p=0.463). conclusions. switching from pg monotherapy to pg/b fixed combination therapy for ntg resulted in a greater intraocular pressure reduction than pg alone without increasing the number of instillations. © 2014 ryoko igarashi et al.