Influence of blood pressure and aqueous humor dynamics on the response to glaucoma medication: a data-driven computational study

Project Summary

Intraocular pressure (IOP) is the pressure created by the fluids within the eye. Elevated IOP is clinically referred to as ocular hypertension and it represents a major risk factor for irreversible vision loss, as in glaucoma. However, the establishment of optimal IOP levels for patients is still controversial. Another meaningful open question is related to what determines the efficacy of IOP-lowering medications. Motivated by this context, the intern will work on the construction and analysis of an enhanced data set, obtained by combining a clinical data set from the Indianapolis Glaucoma Progression Study and a novel physically-based simulated data set. The objective is to address the specific question of quantifying the impact of systemic factors (such as blood pressure) and local factors (such as production and drainage of aqueous humor) on the response to IOP-lowering medication in different conditions of clinical interest, thereby enabling more effective, personalised patient care.

Marcela Szopos