Postoperative complications are similar in glaucoma surgery

Incidence of postoperative complications in eyes with primary angle-closure glaucoma (PACG) and primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) are similar, according to a study published in Archives of Ophthalmology.

Dr Tan Yar-Li et al., Singapore National Eye Centre and Singapore Eye Research Institute, Singapore, investigated the occurrence of postoperative complications and reoperations found in the first year after trabeculectomy and phacotrabeculectomy in eyes with PACG and POAG. The retrospective study looked at 446 patients with PACG and 816 POAG patients who underwent glaucoma operations at a Singapore hospital from January 2001 to December 2004.

Of the 446 subjects with PACG, 112 underwent trabeculectomy and 334 underwent phacotrabeculectomy. Phacotrabeculectomy was performed in 608 of the POAG subjects and 208 underwent trabeculectomy.

There was no significant difference between the POAG and PACG groups, but there was a higher incidence of postoperative complications in the trabeculectomy group compared with the phacotrabeculectomy group. The most frequent complications observed were hypotony with overfiltration, found in 23 cases, followed by 11 cases of bleb leak.