STOCK,WOLFGANG, HIS OPHTHALMOPATHOLOGICAL COLLECTION, AND THE PROGRESS IN GLAUCOMA THERAPY IN THE 2ND HALF OF THE 20TH-CENTURY

Background As long as Wolfgang Stock was head of the University Eye Cl inic Tubingen (1921-1952), he founded a voluminous collection of ophth almopathological slides, which reflect the knowledge about and possibl e therapies for various eye diseases at that time. Material The ''Coll ection Stock'' contains ca, 450 glaucoma specimens. Of these, 50 were chosen at random and investigated macroscopically and microscopically. Each specimen was supplied with a (main) diagnosis. For comparison, 5 0 eyes with glaucoma enucleated between 1992 and 1997 were examined. R esults Nowadays, ''glaucoma enucleation'' is performed nearly exclusiv ely because of secondary angle closure glaucoma. In contrast, the ''Co llection Stock'' contains various eyes with 1. primary glaucoma withou t previous operation, 2. congenital glaucoma, 3. lens induced glaucoma , 4. aphakic glaucoma, and 5. complications after glaucoma surgery. No case of diabetic neovascular glaucoma or PEX-glaucoma was found. Conc lusions Due to improvement in ophthalmological care, development of va rious pressure-lowering and antiinflammatory drugs, new surgical techn iques and, probably most important, introduction of the operation micr oscope, major advances concerning glaucoma therapy and avoidance of co mplications have been achieved in the last 50 years. Thus, the spectru m of ''glaucoma enucleations'' has changed dramatically, and certain t ypes of (open angle) glaucoma Wolf gang Stock was very familiar with h ave in modern ophthalmopathological practice almost fallen into oblivi on.