Outcomes of Surgical Interventions in Primary Congenital Glaucoma Patients

The aim was to report long-term surgical success of primary congenital glaucoma (PCG) patients in Thailand.

PCG patients who underwent one of the following primary operations: trabeculotomy, goniotomy, trabeculectomy, combined trabeculotrabeculectomy (CTT) and diode transscleral cyclophotocoagulation (TSCPC) between January 1992 and January 2018 were reviewed. Surgical success was defined as intraocular pressure (IOP) between 5 and 21 mm Hg with or without antiglaucoma medications. Failure was defined as IOP ≤5 or ≥21 mm Hg for 2 consecutive visits, or when an additional glaucoma surgery was required to control IOP. Survival curves were analyzed using multilevel mixed-effect Weibull model.

A total of 81 eyes from 55 PCG patients were included. Surgical procedures involved 20 goniotomies, 15 trabeculotomies, 16 trabeculectomies, 15 CTT, and 15 TSCPC. Median follow-up time was 24 months (interquartile range: 9 to 60 mo). Overall success rates were 68.8% at 1 year, 63.8% at 3 years, and 53.7% at 5 years. All types of surgery except TSCPC had comparable cumulative 1 year success rates ranging from 78.5% to 83.3%. Cumulative success rates of trabeculotomy (80.05%) and CTT (79.4%) were maintained at 3 and 5 years and were the highest among all procedures at 5 years. TSCPC had a significantly lower success rate compared with other types of surgery (hazard ratio: 7.4 to 13.1, all P=0.01). All patients receiving primary TSCPC showed no success at 48 months.

Primary trabeculotomy and primary CTT demonstrated the highest long-term success rates in PCG patients.