Topic > Overview of the Characteristics of Pseudoexfoliation Syndrome (PXF)

Pseudoexfoliation Syndrome (PXF) is a pathological and age-related accumulation of abnormal fibrillar deposits including on various ocular structures with extraocular tissues. With increasing age, the extracellular matrix can affect up to 20% of the elderly population. Although the specific synthesis and pathophysiology of PXF syndrome are still unknown, the concept of the elastotic process was recently established by the discovery of the lysyl oxidase-like 1 (LOXL 1) gene which is a major risk factor in people for PXF syndrome and glaucoma PXF. (Thorleifsson et al., 2007). The Finnish ophthalmologist named John Lindberg first described PXF in his doctoral thesis in 1917. With the help of a newly developed slit lamp, he defined the grayish spots and alterations on the lens and on the pupillary margin of the iris in 50% of patients suffering from chronic glaucoma. Prevalence rates vary in different populations such as: general population, cataract patients, severe glaucoma patients, older people. The prevalence also depends on the examiner and the method (mydriasis or not, early stages or not). Its prevalence is greatly determined between countries and even within regions or between ethnic groups within many countries. Low rates of PXF have been found in Greenland Eskimos (0%), India (4.2% in patients older than 70 years), the eastern United States (5% in patients aged 75 to 85 years), in Germany (1.5% in patients aged between 70 and 79 years and 6.3% in those between 80 and 89 years) and Great Britain (2% in patients aged between 70 and 79 years and 5.4% in those aged 80 to 89) (Vesti & Kivela, 2000). High frequencies were instead reported in Iceland (31.5%), Finland (>20%), Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay In southwestern Greece, in a cross-sectional study of patients admitted to hospital for cataract surgery, we found the prevalence of PXF syndrome to be 27.9% (Andricopoulos et al., 2009). Pseudoexfoliation syndrome has been associated with cataract progression, increased intraocular pressure, and intraoperative difficulties such as zonular or posterior capsule rupture, poorly dilated pupils, vitreous loss, and postoperative fibrinoid reaction or dislocation of intraocular lens implants. It is the most common identifiable cause of open-angle glaucoma, pseudoexfoliative glaucoma. The latter is characterized by a poor prognosis compared to primary open-angle glaucoma, rapid progression and greater resistance to medical therapy for glaucoma. The definitive clinical diagnosis of PXF can only be confirmed in the last stages of classic PXF (fibers in the two zones) and in the mini-PXF stage (focal defects of the nasal precapsular layer superiorly). Next to the lens, the deposits of PXF material are more evident on the pupillary edge. Other clinical signs on slit-lamp examination are loss of melanin from the peripupillary pigment epithelium of the iris, transillumination defects in the area of ​​the iris sphincter, poor mydriasis, posterior synechiae, zonular weakness, melanin deposition, and dispersion of melanin (on the structures of the iris). anterior segment) after pupil dilation. It appears that various types of epithelial and mesenchymal cells can combine with disordered synthesis of extracellular fibrillar substance at different sites. Intraocular matter appears to be produced primarily in the pre-equatorial lens epithelium, non-pigmented ciliary epithelium, and epithelium epithelium.