Medical expert of the article
New publications
Gonioscopy
Last reviewed: 23.11.2021
All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
Gonioscopy is a method of examining the angle of the anterior chamber, hidden behind the translucent part of the cornea (limb), which is performed using a gonioscope and a slit lamp.
During the execution of this study, the patient's head is located on the stand of the slit lamp, the chin and forehead are fixed, and the doctor first spreads a special gel on the contact plane of the gonioscope and opens the eye gap of the patient's eye with one hand and sets the contact plane of the gonioscope on the cornea of the eye. With one hand, the doctor holds the gonioscope, and the other, using the slit-lamp handle, moves the light gap along the edge of the gonioscope. Mirror plane gonioscope allows you to put a ray of light into the corner of the anterior chamber of the eye and get a reflected image.
In medical practice, Goldman gonioscopes (three-mirror cone-shaped), Van Boiningen (four-mirror pyramidal) and MM Krasnova (single-mirror) are most often used. The gonioscope allows you to examine the distinctive features of the structure of the anterior chamber angle: the iris root, the anterior stripe of the ciliary body, the scleral spur, to which the ciliary body, corneoscleral trabeculae, scleral venous sinus (helmet canal), inner corneal border ring is attached.
Particularly relevant is the determination of the degree of openness of the angle of the anterior chamber. According to the available classification, the angle of the anterior chamber can be wide, of medium width, narrow and closed. At a wide angle, all the components of its components are perfectly visible, including the ciliary body strip and corneoscleral trabeculae. At the angle of the anterior chamber of medium width, the ciliary body is not visible or is defined as a narrow band. In the event that the angle of the anterior chamber is narrow, one can not see either the ciliary body or the posterior part of the corneoscleral trabeculae. With the closed angle of the anterior chamber, the corneoscleral trabeculae are completely invisible, and the root of the iris lies toward the front boundary ring Schwalbe.
Gonioscopy allows to reveal all possible pathological changes in the angle of the anterior chamber: goniosynchia, newly formed vessels, tumors, foreign bodies.
[