Original articleEffects of Argon Laser Trabeculoplasty in the Early Manifest Glaucoma Trial
Section snippets
Methods
The EMGT study design has been described in detail previously.6 Briefly, this trial included patients with newly diagnosed and untreated primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) or exfoliation glaucoma with early to moderate damage. Most patients were found in a large, population-based screening of 44 000 elderly citizens in the cities of Malmö and Helsingborg, Sweden. Eligible eyes had glaucoma with established visual field damage, repeatedly demonstrated by the Humphrey 30-2 full-threshold test and
Results
Follow-up time ranged from at least 3 months to a maximum of 8 years (mean, 57 months; median, 60 months). Among the 127 patients, 3 (2.4%) were lost to follow-up during the study period. Sixty-four (50.4%) patients progressed, and 14 (11%) died. For 9 (7.1%) patients who either discontinued betaxolol or had a change of therapy, we included IOP values only as long as treatment remained unchanged.
Discussion
The present results regarding EMGT patients show a mean IOP reduction of 2.8 mm Hg 3 months after ALT, and the IOP slopes suggest that the mean pressure-lowering effect decreased slightly over time. Higher IOP before ALT was associated with a considerably and significantly better pressure-reducing influence of ALT. Moreover, the treating surgeon (P = .001) was another important factor related to the effectiveness of ALT.
The current study had strengths and weaknesses. Among the former were the
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