Survival of Visual Function in Patients with Advanced Glaucoma after Standard Guarded Trabeculectomy with MMC

Surgical intervention in patients with severe glaucoma remains controversial, especially in unilateral cases with a minimally affected fellow eye. Many question the benefit of trabeculectomy in such cases due to high complication rates and prolonged recovery. In this retrospective, non-comparative, interventional case series we aimed to determine the effect of trabeculectomy or combined phaco-trabeculectomy on the visual function of advanced glaucoma patients. Consecutive cases with perimetric mean deviation loss worse than -20 dB were included. Survival of visual function according to five predetermined visual acuity and perimetric criteria was set as the primary outcome. Qualified surgical success utilizing two different sets of criteria commonly used in the literature constituted secondary outcomes. Forty eyes with average baseline visual field mean deviation -26.3 ± 4.1 dB were identified. The average pre-operative intraocular pressure was 26.5 ± 11.4 mmHg and decreased to 11.4 ± 4.0 mmHg (p < 0.001) after an average follow-up of 23.3 ± 15.5 months. Visual function was preserved at two years in 77% or 66% of eyes respectively according to two different sets of visual acuity and perimetric criteria. Qualified surgical success was 89%, 72% at 1 and 3 years respectively. Trabeculectomy and/or phaco-trabeculectomy is associated with meaningful visual outcomes in patients with uncontrolled advanced glaucoma.