ASCRS 2024: Two papers demonstrate medication burden reduction and safety of a microcatheter for glaucoma

At this year's ASCRS meeting in Boston, Massachusetts, we caught up with Nir Shoham-Hazon, MD. He is the director of the Miramichi EyeNB Centre of Excellence in New Brunswick, Canada. In conversation with Ophthalmology Times Europe, Dr Shoham-Hazon provided highlights from his two paper presentations.

Editor's note: The below transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

Hello, my name is Nir Shoham-Hazon. I'm a glaucoma and advanced anterior segment surgeon, director of the Miramichi EyeNB Centre of Excellence, from Miramichi, New Brunswick, Canada. We're here in Boston for ASCRS, where I presented two papers on behalf of the iTrack microcatheter from Nova Eye. My first paper dealt with medication burden of patients with primary open angle glaucoma, that are on 3+ medications. What we saw over 12 months was that patients, at baseline, IOPs were 20, and at the 12-month follow-up, IOPs were in the mid-teens. When we look at the medication burden, so most patients were on 3.5 medication classes, and at the end of the follow-up were at 2.5 medications.

In terms of our glaucoma severity, most patients were having mild disease. When we also look at the safety and efficacy of the procedure, there was a significant reduction in the medication burden to 2.5 mitigation classes. Some patients were on oral carbonic anhydrase preoperatively, and were off it in the post, last follow up at 12 months. There was one patient that had a transient hyphema, and since this was a very unique group of patients, two patients, which was about 1%, did require further filtration surgery. Overall the safety and efficacy of the iTrack microcatheter from Nova Eye did prove itself in this very unique patient group.

The second paper that I presented was on the safety and efficacy of the iTrack microcatheter from Nova Eye, dealing in patients with primary angle closure glaucoma. This was a unique paper, looking at 47 eyes, looking at the safety and efficacy of a mixed procedure in primary angle closure patients. Traditionally, primary angle closure glaucoma was treated with a laser peripheral iridotomy, followed by filtration surgery if IOPs were not controlled. We now have a minimally invasive glaucoma procedure that is both safe and efficacious in dealing with primary angle closure glaucoma. Forty-seven patients in our cohort either went through an iTrack canaloplasty Ab-interno as a standalone procedure or combined with cataract surgery.

What we saw in the entire group is that IOP preoperatively were around 20 millimeters of mercury, and in the post-op combined group, around mid-teens. However, when we divided the groups into controlled and uncontrolled, we did see that the uncontrolled group actually had a baseline IOP of 25 resulting in a post-op period of IOP of lower teens, so around 12. There was a significant reduction in medication burden on those eyes. One case of transient hyphema. In conclusion canaloplasty Ab-interno with the iTrack microcatheter by Nova Eye was safe and efficacious in patients requiring cataract and glaucoma procedure.