The visual outcome in neovascular glaucoma patients treated with cryocoagulation

The outcome of visual acuity in neovascular glaucoma is generally speaking very poor and frequently the result is a blind and painful eye. The author summarizes the outcome of visual acuity in neovascular glaucoma after the treatment with two cryosurgical methods--cyclo-cryocoagulation as a single surgical method and trans-scleral panretinal cryocoagulation in combination with cyclo-cryocoagulation at one session. In 38 eyes with acute neovascular glaucoma, cyclo-cryocoagulation as a single method was applied to 12 eyes and the combined cryosurgical method to 26 eyes. The author has shown that the impairment of the visual acuity after acute elevation of intraocular pressure in neovascular glaucoma is very rapid. He estimates that the loss of visual acuity is reversible within one week after the acute elevation of the intraocular pressure. In eyes where the initial visual acuity is poor--fingers in front of the eye and worse--the hope to maintain the visual acuity for a longer period is small, and that despite the good compensation of the intraocular pressure. In 6 eyes where the visual acuity was relatively good (6/24-3/60) up to one week prior the operation, it was possible in 5 eyes to maintain the visual acuity (6/24-2/60) for at least 6 months by application of the combined cryosurgical method.