[Clinical trials on glaucoma: differences according to the medical or surgical nature of the treatment being evaluated]
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 14, 2026

Glaucoma-inducing Procedure in an In Vivo Rat Model and Whole-mount Retina Preparation
Published on: March 12, 2016
F Martínez-Sanz1, J Llorca, D Prieto-Salceda
1Servicio de Oftalmología, Hospital Universitario Marqués de Valdecilla.
Purpose:
To compare the quality of clinical trials on glaucoma between those evaluating the effectiveness of medical treatments and those evaluating surgical treatments.
Method:
Clinical trials on glaucoma published in seven international journals between January 1980 and December 1999 were selected. The papers were revised by researchers with a background in epidemiology using a standard qualitative questionnaire. Proportions were compared using Fisher's exact test.
Results:
Sample size was pre-estimated in 19% of medical treatment trials and 2% of surgical trials (p=0.005); masking (72% vs. 9%; p<0.001) and intention-to-treat analysis (17 vs. 0 papers; p<0.001) were also more frequent in medical trials. Only 50% of the trials correctly described the patient flow.
Conclusions:
Quality in clinical trials on glaucoma medical treatment was higher than in surgical trials regarding sample size pre-estimation, masking and intention-to-treat analysis. However, both medical and surgical trials should improve in these aspects and in the patient flow description
Related Concept Videos
Clinical Trials
There are four phases in a clinical trial. A phase one...
Glaucoma: Overview
Open Angle Glaucoma: Treatment
Drugs such as carbonic anhydrase inhibitors, α2- and...
Angle Closure Glaucoma: Treatment

