Título

DOES SELECTIVE LASER TRABECULOPLASTY INFLUENCE THE PATTERN OF LONG-TERM INTRAOCULAR PRESSURE VARIABILITY IN EYES WITH OPEN-ANGLE GLAUCOMA?

Objetivo

To evaluate the influence of selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT) on long-term intraocular pressure (IOP) variation parameters (peak, mean and fluctuation) in eyes with open-angle glaucoma (OAG).

Método

This was a multicenter (5 centers) retrospective case series in which OAG patients who underwent primary SLT procedure were consecutively enrolled. From a total of 835 patients initially selected, we included those with a minimum follow-up of 24 months, without any glaucoma medication during the entire follow-up, and with at least 3 IOP measurements before and after the SLT procedure. Long-term IOP variation parameters were obtained from isolated IOP measurements from each visit . Mean, peak and IOP fluctuation (range) were compared before and after SLT application. Whenever both eyes were eligible, one was randomly selected for analysis.

Resultado

A total of 67 eyes from 67 patients (mean age, 60.5±16.8 years) were included in the analysis. Average visual field Mean Deviation index was -2.2±2.3 dB. After two years of follow-up, mean IOP was significantly reduced from 19.1±2.9 to 13.6±2.2 mmHg (p<0.001) following a single SLT procedure. Mean IOP peak was significantly reduced from 20.7±3.5 to 15.1±2.6 mmHg (p<0.001), while mean IOP fluctuation change was not statistically significant (from 3.3± 2.2 to 2.9±1.5 mmHg p=0.07).

Conclusão

In this group of patients with untreated early OAG or ocular hypertension, our results confirmed SLT as an effective alternative for mean IOP reduction. Although SLT had a significant impact on IOP peak values during follow-up, long-term IOP fluctuation was not significantly influenced by the laser treatment in this cohort.