Glaucoma filtration surgery in monkeys using 5-fluorouridine in polyanhydride disks
H. D. Jampel, K. W. Leong, G. R. Dunkelburger and H. A. Quigley
Wilmer Ophthalmological Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Md.
We performed filtration surgery in glaucomatous monkeys to determine if
bioerodible polyanhydride disks that contained 5-fluorouridine (5-FUR)
prolonged the success of the operation. First, in vitro studies
demonstrated that 5-fluorouridine was released from the disks for at least
16 days in a bioactive form that inhibited fibroblast proliferation. Next,
a preliminary series of six eyes suggested that using disks that contained
5-fluorouridine extended the intraocular pressure-lowering effect of
filtration surgery. This finding was confirmed in eight additional eyes of
four animals in which one eye received a disk with 5-fluorouridine and the
other received a disk without the drug. The duration of success of the
operation was significantly longer in the eyes that received polyanhydride
with 5-fluorouridine (mean +/- SD, 26.0 +/- 9.2 days) than in the controls
(8.5 +/- 4.0 days). The histologic findings of the experimental eyes
correlated with their prolonged clinical success.
