Molteno implant surgery in uncontrolled glaucoma

Molteno implant surgery was performed on 33 eyes of 29 patients with complicated and uncontrolled glaucoma. Average preoperative IOP was 34.0 +/- 8.8 mmHg. After a mean postoperative follow-up period of 18.3 months the IOP was 15.8 +/- 8.3 mmHg. Three patients had an IOP over 22 mmHg. Overall, success rate was 73% with IOP and medication as criteria. In 75% of eyes visual acuity improved or remained within two lines of the preoperative value. The highest success rate was 83% (10 of 12 eyes) in congenital and uveitic glaucoma when both IOP, medication and visual acuity were taken into account. At the end of the study 52% of eyes were controlled without medication. Complications included transient hyphema (21%), flat anterior chamber with hypotony, with or without choroidal detachment (12%), tube touch to lens or cornea (9%), and tube block with vitreous (3%).