British Journal of Ophthalmology 2008;92:1232-1235
ORIGINAL ARTICLES
Medium-term outcomes of safe surgery system trabeculectomies
1 Ophthalmology Department, Capital & Coast District Health Board, Wellington, New Zealand
2 Capital Eye Specialists, Wellington, New Zealand
Correspondence to:
Dr A P Wells, Ophthalmology Department, Wellington Hospital, Private Bag 7902, Wellington, New Zealand; twells{at}eyetext.net
Aim: To assess the safety and success of Safe Surgery System trabeculectomy beyond 3 years.
Methods: Consecutive case series of 39 eyes in 32 patients. Trabeculectomy was performed using fornix-based conjunctival flap, standard trabeculectomy punch, adjustable scleral flap sutures and antimetabolite treatment. Primary outcome of surgical failure was defined by two criteria: (A) need for further surgery, glaucoma medications or an intraocular pressure (IOP) >21 mm Hg during >10% of follow-up; or (B) IOP >15 mm Hg for >10% follow-up. A relatively aggressive regime of bleb needling and subconjunctival injections was used postoperatively in an attempt to reduce bleb fibrosis and failure. The mean follow-up was 42 months (range 25–55).
Results: The rate of surgical failure was 4.4% per eye-year for criterion A, and 8.0% per eye-year for criterion B. Complications were few and compared favourably with other published series.
Conclusion: The Safe Surgery System for trabeculectomy provides excellent IOP control both during the operation and in the short and medium term postoperatively, with few complications or surgical failures.
Funding: This work was supported by the Capital Vision Research Trust, but we received no direct funding for this research, and cannot identify any financial competing interests.
Competing interests: None.
Ethics approval: The Central Regional Ethics Committee approved the study.
Patient consent: Obtained.
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