Postoperative subconjunctival mitomycin-C injection after non-penetrating glaucoma surgery.

PURPOSE

To evaluate subconjunctival mitomycin C (MMC) injection efficacy and safety in patients with failing glaucoma non-penetrating filtering blebs.

METHODS

Twenty-eight eyes were consecutively recruited for this study. Only one eye for each patient was randomly selected. All the recruited patients had glaucoma and uncontrolled intraocular pressure after a non-penetrating filtering glaucoma surgery and/or a pathological aspect of the filtering bleb (i.e., vascularized and/or encysted). One or more MMC injections were performed under the conjunctiva closed to the bleb to improve filtration. Local effects and complications of subconjunctival MMC injections were analyzed.

RESULTS

Out of the 28 patients, 21 (75%) had MMC also applied intraoperatively. The mean postoperative IOP before MMC injections was 17 +/- 6.6 mmHg. The final IOP after MMC injections was 13.9 +/- 2.9 mmHg after a mean follow-up of 6 months. A total of 67 subconjunctival MMC injections were performed with a mean of 2.9 (ranging from 1 to 5) injections per patient. The only complication found to be possibly related to MMC injections was two cases of corneal Dellen.

CONCLUSION

From these preliminary results, subconjunctival MMC injections in selected cases appear to be not only safe but also effective in promoting further the postoperative IOP drop.