Combined trabeculectomy and cataract extraction

We performed combined trabeculectomy-cataract extraction in 37 eyes of 29 patients. Average follow-up was 23.7 months. Thirty-three (89.2%) of the 37 eyes were controlled with much improvement postoperatively. A total of 35 eyes (94.6%) were controlled postoperatively; 22 eyes (59.5%) required no medications postoperatively. No greater incidence of complications with the combined procedure from that expected with cataract extraction alone was evident, except for four flat or shallow chambers and four hyphemas, none of which appeared to have an adverse effect on the final outcome of the surgery. We believe that the combined trabeculectomy-cataract extraction is a valid and safe procedure, if not the procedure of choice, in our hands, for the patient with coexisting cataract and glaucoma, and the advantages of the greater pressure control with the single procedure outweight the small increase in the risks of the surgery.