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A COMBINATION OF ORAL AND TOPICAL BETA‐BLOCKERS WITH ADDITIVE EFFECTS ON INTRAOCULAR PRESSURE
Author(s) -
ÖHRSTRÖM ARNE,
KATTSTRÖM ÖRJAN
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
acta ophthalmologica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.534
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1755-3768
pISSN - 1755-375X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1755-3768.1983.tb01490.x
Subject(s) - timolol , medicine , intraocular pressure , propranolol , ocular hypertension , placebo , glaucoma , ophthalmology , beta blocker , beta (programming language) , anesthesia , heart failure , alternative medicine , pathology , computer science , programming language
In a double‐masked randomised cross‐over study the effect of adding oral propranolol (40 mg × 2) to topical timolol‐treatment (0.5% × 2) was evaluated. Ten patients with glaucoma or ocular hypertension (totally 15 pathological eyes and 5 healthy) who had had topical timolol for at least 2 months received the coded oral treatment. A significant decrease of the intraocular pressure (3.68 ±0.72 SD, P < 0.01) was observed in the timolol‐treated eyes after the addition of the masked treatment with placebo/pro‐pranolol. Also the non‐timolol‐treated fellow eyes had a significant decrease of the intraocular pressure. It is suggested that this additive effects depends on a loss of efficacy of the topical beta‐blocker caused by an increase in the number of beta‐receptors and that the oral beta‐blocker restores the degree of blocking to a more efficient level.