Paper Title
Plasma BNP Concentrations In Tunisian Hypertensive Patients With Glaucoma

Abstract
Glaucoma is a multifactorial optic neuropathy leading to vision loss and blindness and the high intraocular pressure (IOP) is the main risk factor for this disease. Furthermore, systemic hypertension is suspected to increase the risk of glaucoma. B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) which regulates blood pressure, might play a role in the pathogenesis of glaucoma. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between BNP concentration and primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) in patients with hypertension. Methods: This study enrolled 77 patients with POAG glaucoma (40 patients with hypertension and 37 patients without hypertension). BNP concentrations were determined by a chemilumininescent microparticle immuoassay. Results: BNP concentrations were significantly higher in glaucoma patients with hypertension (55.35 �15.87 pg/ml) compared to glaucoma patients without hypertension (20.37 �2.35 pg/ml) (p<0.05). On the other hand, BNP concentrations were correlated with systolic and diastolic blood pressure but not with IOP in glaucoma patients with hypertension. Conclusions- The present study showed that plasma BNP was high in glaucoma patients with hypertension but was not correlated with IOP.