A great deal of research is being conducted in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of glaucoma. Among the recent developments:

• The Ocular Hypertension Treatment Study has sparked creation of a glaucoma risk calculator.
  
  
• An online tool has been developed to screen people for glaucoma risk.
  
  
• The National Eye Institute is funding research to improve glaucoma testing.
  
  
• German researchers report that measuring the velocity of circulation in arteries of the eye can indicate which glaucoma patients are at greatest risk of advanced disease.
  
  
• Some research has found selective laser trabeculoplasty, a newer variation on argon laser trabeculoplasty, to be effective.
  
  
• Pneumatic trabeculoplasty, a potential alternative to surgery that uses suction in an effort to lower pressure inside the eye, is being studied.
  
  
• Medications under development include a compound that suppresses an enzyme called Rho-kinase (ROCK) and a compound that incorporates nitric oxide. Monoclonal antibodies and marijuana-like cannabinoids are also being studied. To address concerns that many glaucoma patients have difficulty applying or are otherwise not taking their eye drops, researchers are investigating oral medications and ocular injections.
  
  
• The discovery of a previously unknown growth factor called oncomodulin might eventually lead to treatments that reverse damage to the optic nerve, according to scientists in Boston.
  
  
• Researchers at Harvard Medical School have reported regenerating a rodent optic nerve and have expressed hope that stem cells may in the near future allow regeneration of human optic nerves and retinas.
  
  
• Gene therapy researchers have reported some success in slowing the death of eye cells by using a virus to insert genes into the eyes of lab rats with glaucoma.
  
  
• Researchers have developed a genetic test using a sample of saliva that can reveal risk for an aggressive form of primary open-angle glaucoma.