Lens status following glaucoma drainage device does not affect long-term IOP reduction, States study

The intraocular pressure (IOP) and other outcomes were assessed at the interval of 1, 3, 6, 12, 24 and 36 months post-implantation. Multivariable regression models were used to compensate for baseline characteristics. Primary outcome of this study was IOP following GDD implantation. Secondary outcomes were change in number of glaucoma eye drops, visual acuity (VA), and rate of failure, defined as further glaucoma surgery, vision loss to no light perception, or IOP chronically < 5 mmHg or > 21 mmHg or not decreased by 20% from baseline.

The key findings of this study were:

There were 65 eye participants in Group A, 52 in Group B and 126 in Group C which did not contribute to statistically significant differences in mean IOP between the three groups at all time points up to three years postoperatively. This indicates that the lens status or subsequent cataract surgery did not significantly affect IOP control in patients with GDD implants.

Significant improvement in VA was observed in groups A and B when compared to group C at 6 months, one year and two years after implantation. However, by postoperative year 3, the change in VA was comparable across groups. There were no substantial variations in failure rates across groups (P = 0.68).

The study also found that, up to 12 months following cataract surgery, IOP and medicines were identical to the preoperative baseline. Overall, three years following GDD implantation, there were no variations in IOP, glaucoma medicines or failure rates according to lens condition or future cataract surgery. These findings could help to treat people who have both glaucoma and cataracts.

Source:

Stallworth, J. Y., Hekmatjah, N., Yu, Y., Oatts, J. T., Ying, G.-S., & Han, Y. (2024). Effect of Lens Status on the Outcomes of Glaucoma Drainage Device Implantation. In Ophthalmology Glaucoma (Vol. 7, Issue 3, pp. 242–250). Elsevier BV. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ogla.2024.01.004