Long-term surgical and visual outcomes in Indian children with developmental glaucoma operated on within 6 months of birth.

Abstract

To determine the long-term surgical and visual outcomes in Indian children with developmental glaucoma operated within 6 months of birth. Retrospective consecutive, noncomparative case series. All children with developmental glaucoma who underwent surgery within 6 months of birth over a 12-year period were included. Two hundred ninety-nine eyes of 157 consecutive patients who underwent primary combined trabeculotomy-trabeculectomy for developmental glaucoma from January 1990 through December 2001 by a single surgeon were studied. However, for the purpose of statistical analysis, only 1 randomly chosen eye of patients with a bilateral affliction (142, 90.4%) was considered. The main outcome measures were preoperative and postoperative intraocular pressures (IOPs), corneal clarity and diameters, visual acuities, refractive errors, success rate, time of surgical failure, and complications. The series consisted of 299 primary combined trabeculotomy-trabeculectomy surgeries during 157 anesthesias. The intraocular pressure was reduced from 26.6+/-6.2 mmHg to 14.4+/-4.9 mmHg, with a mean percentage reduction of 41.1+/-28.8 (P<0.0001). The probability of success (IOP<21 mmHg) was 94.4%, 92.1%, 86.7%, 79.4%, 72.9%, and 63.1% at first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth year, respectively (Kaplan-Meier analysis). The mean follow-up period was 26.5+/-25.1 months. Preoperatively, 133 eyes (84.7%) had significant corneal edema. Postoperatively, normal corneal clarity was achieved in 83 of 133 eyes (62.4%) with corneal edema. There were no major intraoperative complications. Postoperatively, 17 eyes (10.8%) had a shallow anterior chamber develop; 3 of these eyes (17.6%) required surgical reformation. There was no incidence of endophthalmitis or any other sight-threatening complication. Data on visual acuity were available in 49 patients (31.2%). At the final follow-up visit, 20 patients (40.8%) had normal visual acuity (best-corrected visual acuity of >/=20/60 in the better eye). Primary combined trabeculotomy-trabeculectomy is safe and effective for developmental glaucoma when performed within 6 months of birth. It leads to excellent IOP control and moderate visual outcome.