Multiple micro-bypass stents lower IOP

Multiple micro-bypass stents with concurrent cataract surgery lowers IOP to less than 15 mmHg in patients with open-angle glaucoma (OAG) and cataract.

A team led by Dr Graham W. Belovay, at a private practice, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, completed a comparative case series on 53 eyes of 47 patients with OAG. Of the eyes studied, 28 had two stents implanted and 25 had three stents implanted.

Each patient was followed up for one year and efficacy measures included intraocular pressure (IOP) and topical ocular hypotensive medication use. The safety assessment consisted of complications and corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA).

Overall mean one-year postoperative IOP was 14.3 mmHg, which was significantly lower than the overall preoperative IOP. Target IOP was achieved in a high proportion of eyes and there were 83% of eyes who experienced a reduction in topical ocular hypotensive medication one-year postoperatively.

The three-stent group required significantly fewer medications than the two-stent group at one year.

The abstract can be found in the Journal of Cataract and Refractive Surgery.