OVERVIEW
This page is dedicated to organizing various examples of standardized exam questions whose answer is angle-closure glaucoma. While this may seem a odd practice, it is useful to see multiple examples of how angle-closure glaucoma will be characterized on standardized exams (namely the boards and the shelf exams). This page is not meant to be used as a traditional question bank (as all of the answers will be the same), however seeing the classic “test” characterization for a disease is quite valuable.
QUESTION EXAMPLES
Question # 1
A 65 year old woman is brought to the hospital because she has been experiencing a severe right sided headache, nausea, and eyes pain. She was washing the dishes when she suddenly felt a pain in her right eye. She decided to rest however the pain only progressed. In the next few minutes she developed a loss of vision, photophobia, and also redness in her right eye she took medications to relieve the headaches but her eye pain and only got worse she denies having any trauma to her eye her past medical history is only significant for hypertension and diabetes. Her right eye is red and the conjunctiva are injected. Her visual acuity is 20/200 her right pupil is dilated and not reactive to light. Her eye feels hard to palpation. What is the likely diagnosis and this patients. What is the likely diagnosis in this patient?
Explanation: acute onset of eye pain + red eye + firm eye = angle-closure glaucoma
Question # 2
A 55 year old woman is brought to the ER because she has been complaining of a extremely severe frontal headache. Her pain started about one hour ago when she was watching a Star Wars marathon at the local theater. She explains the she sees halos around lights. A physical exam reveals pupils that are mid-dilated an duo to react to light. The corneas are cloudy and have a greenish hue. Her eyes feel “hard as a rock” to palpation. What is the likely diagnosis in this patient?
Explanation: acute onset of eye pain + firm eye = angle-closure glaucoma
Question # 3
A 78 year old woman is seen for an acute headache. It started about 10 hours ago and the pain has continued. She mentions that she feels left eye pain, is nauseous, and even vomited 2 times since the onset of the pain. She observes halos around lights. She has a past medical history significant for hypertension and diabetes, both of which are medically managed. Her vital are within normal limits. With her spectacles on she has a visual acuity of 20/20 not he right, and 20/120 on the left. The left eye has a fixed dilated pupil, and barely moves during the eye exam. The left eye is also tense to palpation, and there is clear conjunctival injection in this eye. What is the likely diagnosis in this patient?
Explanation: acute onset of eye pain/headache + red eye + firm eye = angle-closure glaucoma
Question # 4
A 50 year old female has the acute onset of right eye pain and a generalized headache that began 6 hour sago. She explains that she has blurred vision in her right eye. A physical exam shows diffuse redness of the conjunctiva, with prominence around the cornea. The pupil is midrange and non-reactive to light. There is no exudate present. What diagnosis should be considered?
Explanation: acute onset of eye pain/headache + monocular blurry vision + red eye = angle-closure glaucoma
Page Updated: 01.31.2017