[Laser trabeculoplasty and the status of the crystalline lens in open-angle glaucoma]

The authors analyze the frequency of cataract progression in patients with open-angle glaucomas after laser trabeculoplasty. 132 patients (148 eyes) have been followed up for 1 to 6 yrs. A considerable deterioration of the vision acuity (by 0.4 and more) has been observed in 10 (6.8%) eyes; in this group of patients the vision acuity decrease on the involved eye has been 0.59 +/- 0.25, whereas on the other (control) eye, not exposed to laser trabeculoplasty, the vision acuity has decreased by 0.09 on an average. The vision acuity has deteriorated at the expense of the already developed cataract progression. This appears to be induced by laser trabeculoplasty. It is noteworthy, however, that the incidence rate of cataract progression after laser trabeculoplasty is much lower than after antiglaucoma surgery (6.68 vs. 30-80%). No cases of the development of a cataract in a transparent lens (a phenomenon observed after antiglaucoma surgery) have been recorded after laser trabeculoplasty.