[Pleiotropic effects in local drug treatment for glaucoma].

In glaucoma treatment, beside the traditional reduction of intraocular pressure, additional therapeutic strategies have come into consideration. Therefore pleiotropic effects of medications, defined as positively acting effects independent of the main mechanism of action, represent a new research sub-field in medical therapy and play an increasingly important role in internal medicine. Using the example of local beta-blockers, alpha-2-agonists, carbonic anhydrase inhibitors and prostaglandin analogues, their pleiotropic spectra will be shown and discussed. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.