Purpose: The addition of antiproliferative agents, most recently mitomycin C, has improved the outcome of glaucoma filtering surgery in eyes with a high risk of surgical failure. We conducted the present study to determine whether adjunctive mitomycin C would increase the success rate of primary trabeculectomies in phakic eyes.
Methods: Thirty-three eyes of 33 consecutive patients with phakic primary open-angle glaucoma, who were predominantly black (24 black and nine white), who underwent primary trabeculectomy with adjunctive subconjunctival mitomycin C (0.5 mg/ml for three minutes) were compared with a demographically similar historical control group of 30 eyes of 30 consecutive patients (20 black and ten white) with phakic primary open-angle glaucoma, who had undergone primary trabeculectomy without an adjunctive antifibrotic agent.
Results: Although the mean preoperative intraocular pressures were similar in both groups (29.0 +/- 6.4 mm Hg in the mitomycin C group and 29.5 +/- 10.0 mm Hg in the control group, P = .61), the mean postoperative intraocular pressure at each follow-up period was significantly lower in the mitomycin C group than in the control group (10.3 +/- 7.1 vs 14.5 +/- 5.1 mm Hg at six months, P = .02; 10.5 +/- 4.9 vs 14.5 +/- 4.4 mm Hg at 12 months, P = .01; and 10.0 +/- 3.1 vs 17.2 +/- 3.0 mm Hg at 18 months, P = .004, respectively). The mean number of postoperative medications was also significantly lower in the mitomycin C group (0.2 +/- 0.4 vs 1.1 +/- 1.4 medications at six months, P = .007; 0.3 +/- 0.4 vs 0.9 +/- 1.1 medications at 12 months, P = .04; and 0.3 +/- 0.5 vs 1.7 +/- 1.2 medications at 18 months, P = .01, respectively). However, the mitomycin C group had a significantly higher incidence of prolonged hypotony (intraocular pressure less than 6 mm Hg) compared with the control group (15% vs 0% at nine months, P = .05). Younger age was associated with a higher incidence of persistent hypotony.
Conclusions: Adjunctive subconjunctival mitomycin C (0.5 mg/ml for a three-minute exposure) in primary trabeculectomies of phakic eyes, while increasing the success rate by decreasing intraocular pressure and postoperative medications, is associated with a higher incidence of prolonged hypotony.