Protocol for the Collection of Blood and Surgical Specimens from Patients With and Without Glaucoma

We plan to identify the anatomical, biochemical and genetic differences between normal and glaucomatous eyes using various using tissue samples from the eye and blood.

Inclusion Criteria:

- Written informed consent

- Age ≥ 18 years old

- Inclusion Criteria for aqueous fluid, lens capsule, trabecular meshwork and iris tissues: Patients with exfoliation glaucoma, exfoliation syndrome, and other types of glaucoma undergoing trabeculectomy, and patients with cataract with or without glaucoma undergoing cataract extraction.

- Inclusion Criteria for phlebotomy: Patients with XFS, XFG, other glaucoma subtypes or controls will be included. Controls will be patients with cataract without glaucoma, patients with narrow angles without glaucomatous optic neuropathy and visual field loss, patients with angle closure glaucoma, glaucoma suspects with normal intraocular pressure and visual fields, patients with glaucoma and no exfoliation syndrome, or normal volunteers. 

- Inclusion Criteria for Tenon’s capsule biopsy: Patients with exfoliation glaucoma and other glaucomas and patients with cataract without glaucoma undergoing cataract extraction.

Exclusion Criteria: 

- Exclusion criteria for aqueous fluid, lens capsule, trabecular meshwork and iris tissues: Eyes with shallow anterior chambers, bleeding at the paracentesis track, which can contaminate the sample, iris contact with the 30-gauge cannula during aqueous fluid aspiration, entire aspiration taking longer than 5 seconds, trabecular meshwork samples where there is significant bleeding from limbal or iris vessels

- Presence of vitreous in the anterior chamber

- Presence of inflammation

- Exclusion criteria for phlebotomy: Patients with glaucomatous optic neuropathy and visual field loss should be excluded from the control group and normal volunteers cannot be first blood relations of patients with XFG or XFS. 

- Exclusion Criteria for Tenon’s capsule biopsy: Presence of ocular or orbital inflammation.

Conditions:
• Glaucoma