Josef Flammer

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Josef Flammer (born April 21, 1948 in Trungen , Canton St. Gallen ) is a Swiss ophthalmologist and director of the Basel University Hospital . Flammer is considered one of the most important researchers into the pathogenesis and therapy of glaucoma and has developed a new pathogenetic concept of glaucoma damage, in which the unstable blood supply leads to oxidative stress in the mitochondria of the cells in the optic nerve and retina.

Life and education

Josef Flammer was born on a farm near the village of Bronschhofen in the canton of St. Gallen. He attended secondary school in Wil and a boarding school in Gossau . In 1968 he began studying medicine, first in Freiburg im Üechtland (Friborg), then in Bern . Flammer completed his years as an assistant doctor in the subjects of internal medicine, neurology and ophthalmology - which he ultimately decided on and completed his advanced training at the Eye Clinic of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver and at the Eye Clinic of the University of Bern . In 1984 he was appointed senior physician at the Bern Eye Clinic, and in 1987 he accepted the position of Director of the University Eye Clinic in Basel, which he headed until his retirement in December 2013. Flammer, who was Dean of the Medical Faculty of the University of Basel in 1995/96, has taught as a visiting professor at universities in Halifax (Canada), Brescia (Italy) and Warna (Bulgaria) as well as at Salus University in the American state of Pennsylvania .

Scientific work

In his scientific and medical work he was very interdisciplinary. The first research focus was automatic perimetry, for which he established the normal values ​​and described the short and long-term fluctuations as well as the factors influencing them. Together with Hans Bebie, he developed the Bebie curve, which is important for diagnosing glaucoma-related visual field defects. Flammer was the first researcher to demonstrate systemic side effects of beta blockers applied locally to the eye (in the form of eye drops). Flammer later became a major pioneer in the reassessment of glaucoma (green star), one of the most important causes of blindness. Flammer and his colleagues found that fluctuations in intraocular pressure are just as important for the development of the disease as the increased intraocular pressure, which is traditionally a risk factor. In numerous research projects, he then showed that glaucoma is not only caused by increased or fluctuating intraocular pressure, but also by a dysregulation of the blood flow. Similar to the pressure fluctuations, this leads to an unstable oxygen supply to the eye and thus to oxidative stress. Flammer noticed that vasospasms (spasmodic narrowing of the blood vessels) in the eye are a manifestation of the general vasospastic syndrome and was the first ophthalmologist to start treatments with calcium antagonists and magnesium. He later noticed that such spasms are just the tip of the iceberg of a much more general vascular dysregulation and that what he called primary vascular dysregulation (PVD), the autoregulation of the eye is also disturbed. This in turn increases the risk of eye disease, particularly normal pressure glaucoma . Eventually, he noticed that people with primary vascular dysregulation have additional symptoms and signs; this led to the description of the Flammer syndrome named after him . He also showed the role of arterial hypotension in glaucoma and recognized that the papillary hemorrhages are an expression of a barrier disruption of the retinal vessels. Flammer showed the connections between eye and heart diseases and that eye diseases rarely occur in isolation, but are mostly an expression of a general disease, which led to the term "sick eye in a sick body". In numerous laboratory studies, he showed the role of endothelin and nitrogen oxides in the blood circulation in the eyes. Increased production of endothelin in general diseases, in particular autoimmune diseases, this increase in endothelin leads to reduced blood flow to the eye, a situation which, according to Flammer, is called secondary dysregulation. A current research focus of Flammers are pathological changes in the veins in the retina of the eye, especially the sudden occlusions of these blood vessels that lead to acute vision loss for the patient. He has also described the role of blood flow to the eye in retinopathia pigmentosa .

Journalism and training

In addition to hundreds of original works, Flammer wrote several books. In addition to his "Basic Sciences in Ophthalmology", his best-known book is a description of glaucoma in a language that laymen can understand. It has since been published in 22 languages ​​and 30 different editions, making it the world's most widely distributed non-fiction book on this eye disease. As introduced by Flammer, the Basel Eye Clinic organizes one of the most prominent advanced training congresses for ophthalmologists in Europe every year, the Basel Glaucoma Meeting. In September 2019, Flammer will be President of the first major international congress on the subject of ocular blood flow in Rigi Kaltbad.

Awards (selection)

  • 1984 International Chibret Award, Helsinki (Finland)
  • 1985 Alfred Vogt Award, St. Moritz (Switzerland)
  • 1991 Alcon Award, Fort Worth (Texas, USA)
  • 1996 Montgomery Award, Dublin (Ireland)
  • 2001 William MacKenzie Award, Glasgow (Scotland)
  • 2002 Poster Award of the Swiss Ophthalmological Society, Lucerne (Switzerland)
  • 2003 Honorary membership of the Czech Ophthalmological Society, Prague (Czech Republic)
  • 2003 Guest of Honor, Nobel Laureate Meeting, Lindau
  • 2006 Gold Medal of the Saudi Arabian Ophthalmological Society, Riyhad (Saudi Arabia)
  • 2010 Georg Bartisch Glaucoma Research Prize, Dresden
  • 2010 Invited Professor, University of Brescia (Italy)
  • 2012 Professor Faculty in Biomedicine, Salus University, Pennsylvania, USA
  • 2014 Invited keynote lecturer EPMA Summit, Milano
  • 2014 Invited keynote lecturer European Glaucoma Society
  • 2017 EPMA Award from the European Society for Predictive, Preventive and Personalized Medicine
  • 2018 Fankhauser Award, Basel

Fonts

  • with K. Konieczka: Phenomenology and clinical significance of Flammer's syndrome. Ophthalmic Clinical Monthly Sheets 2016; 233: 1331-1336.
  • with Maneli Mozaffarieh and Hans Bebie: Basic Sciences in Ophthalmology: Physics and Chemistry. Springer, Heidelberg / New York 2013, ISBN 978-3-642-32260-0 .
  • with A. Cybulska-Heinrich and M. Mozaffarieh: importance of "not lowering eye pressure glaucoma therapy (Value of Non-IOP Lowering Therapy for Glaucoma). In: Klin Monatsbl Augenheilkd. 230, 2013, pp 114-119.
  • with K. Konieczka, RM Bruno, A. Virdis, AJ Flammer and S. Taddei: The eye and the heart. In: Eur Heart J . 34, 2013, pp. 1270-1278.
  • M. Mozaffarieh, J. Flammer: New insights in the pathogenesis and treatment of normal tension glaucoma. In: Curr Opin Pharmacol . 2012.
  • The role of ocular blood flow in the pathogenesis of glaucomatous damage. In: US Ophthalmic Review. 4 (2), 2011, pp. 84-87.
  • Glaucoma. A manual for those affected. An introduction for those interested. A reference work for those in a hurry. 3. Edition. Verlag Hans Huber, Bern 2009, ISBN 978-3-456-84677-4 .
  • with Maneli Mozzafarieh: Ocular Blood Flow and Glaucomatous Optic Neuropathy. Springer, Heidelberg / New York 2009, ISBN 978-3-540-69442-7 .
  • with Stephan Fraenkl and Maneli Mozaffarieh: Retinal vein occlusions: The potential impact of a dysregulation of the retinal veins. EPMA Journal 2010; 1: 253-261.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ A. Haas, J. Flammer, U. Schneider: Influence of age on the visual fields of normal subjects. In: Am J Ophthalmol. 101, 1986, pp. 199-203.
  2. ↑ J. Flammer, SM Drance, M. Inflow: Differential light threshold. Short- and long-term fluctuation in patients with glaucoma, normal controls and patients with suspected glaucoma. In: Arch Ophthalmol. 102, 1984, pp. 704-706.
  3. ^ J. Flammer, SM Drance, F. Fankhauser, L. Augustiny: The differential light threshold in automatic static perimetry. Factors influencing short-term fluctuation. In: Arch Ophthalmol. 102, 1984, pp. 876-879.
  4. ↑ H. Bebié, J. Flammer, Th. Bebié: The cumulative defect curve: separation of local and diffuse components of visual field damage. In: Graefe's Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol. 227, 1989, pp. 9-12.
  5. ↑ J. Flammer, D. Barth: Cardiovascular effects with locally applied timolol. In: Klin Monatsbl Augenheilk. 176, 1980, pp. 561-565.
  6. ^ P. Niesel, J. Flammer: Correlations between intraocular pressure, visual field and acuity, based on 11 years observations of treated chronic glaucomas. In: Int Ophthalmol. 3, 1980, pp. 31-35.
  7. ↑ J. Flammer, IO Haefliger, S. Orgül, T. Resink: Vascular dysregulation: a principal risk factor for glaucomatous damage? In: J Glaucoma. 8, 1999, pp. 212-219.
  8. ↑ J. Flammer, M. Mozaffarieh: What is the present pathogenetic concept of glaucomatous optic neuropathy? In: Surv Ophthalmol. 52: Suppl 2, 2007, pp. S162-S173.
  9. ↑ J. Flammer, U. Guthauser: Treatment of choroidal vasospasms with calcium antagonists. In: Klin Monatsbl Augenheilk. 190, 1987, pp. 299-300.
  10. ↑ J. Flammer, K. Konieczka, AJ Flammer: The primary vascular dysregulation syndrome: implications for eye diseases. In: EPMA. 7; 4 (1), 2013, p. 14.
  11. ↑ MC Grieshaber, J. Flammer: Does the blood-brain barrier play a role in glaucoma? In: Surv Ophthalmol. 52 Suppl 2, 2007 Nov, S115-S121.
  12. ↑ J. Flammer, M. Mozaffarieh: What is the present pathogenetic concept of glaucomatous optic neuropathy? In: Surv Ophthalmol. 52: Suppl 2, 2007, S162-S173.
  13. ^ J. Flammer, K. Konieczka, RM Bruno, A. Virdis, AJ Flammer, S. Taddei: The eye and the heart. In: Eur Heart J. 34, 2013, pp. 1270-1278.
  14. ↑ M. Pache, J. Flammer: A Sick Eye in a Sick Body? Systemic Findings in Patients with Primary Open-angle Glaucoma. In: Surv Ophthalmol. 51 (3), 2006, pp. 179-212.
  15. ^ IO Haefliger, J. Flammer, JL. Bény, Th. Lüscher: Endothelium-dependent vasoactive modulation in the ophthalmic circulation. In: Prog Retin Eye Res. 20, 2001, pp. 209-225.
  16. ↑ Stephan A. Fraenkl, Maneli Mozaffarieh, Josef Flammer: retinal vein occlusions: The potential impact of a dysregulation of the retinal veins. In: EPMA J. 1, 2010, pp. 253-261.
  17. ^ J. Flammer, K. Konieczka: Retinal venous pressure: the role of endothelin. In: EPMA Journal. 6, 2015, p. 21.
  18. ↑ Konieczka K, Flammer AJ, Todorova M, Meyer P, Flammer J: Retinitis pigmentosa and ocular blood flow. EPMA J. 2012 Dec 3; 3 (1): 17. doi: 10.1186 / 1878-5085-3-17 .
  19. ^ Josef Flammer: Glaucoma. A manual for those affected. An introduction for those interested. A reference work for those in a hurry. 3. Edition. Verlag Hans Huber, Bern 2009, ISBN 978-3-456-84677-4 .
  20. ↑ Glaucoma Meeting
  21. ↑ http://www.obfsummit.com/
personal data
SURNAME Flammer, Josef
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss ophthalmologist and director of the University Hospital Basel
DATE OF BIRTH April 21, 1948
PLACE OF BIRTH Trungen , Canton of St. Gallen