The first report on intermediate-term outcome of Ex-PRESS glaucoma filtration device implanted under scleral flap in Japanese patients.

PURPOSE

This paper compares the outcomes of the Ex-PRESS(®) Glaucoma Filtration Device (Alcon, Fort Worth, TX) implant observed in Japanese patients for 1 year with those of patients undergoing trabeculectomy.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

The subjects comprised ten eyes of ten cases with open-angle glaucoma for which filtration surgery using Ex-PRESS (P-50) was performed by one operator from February 2008 and observed for at least 1 year (Ex-PRESS Group), and eleven eyes of eleven cases for which trabeculectomy was performed by the same operator (TE Group). For both groups, mitomycin C was used and a scleral flap was created after a fornix-based incision of the conjunctiva.

RESULTS

Hypotony and choroidal detachment were observed as early postoperative complications during a 1-week period in one-third of the cases in the TE Group, and failing vision in about 45%, while these were seen in fewer cases in the Ex-PRESS Group. No significant difference in intraocular pressure (IOP) was observed during the period, but IOP variations on the day following the surgery were obviously narrower in the Ex-PRESS Group than in the TE Group. Visual acuity was significantly poorer from 1 week to 3 months in the TE Group while it was stable in the Ex-PRESS Group. The Ex-PRESS Group had fewer cases of laser suture lysis and fewer administrations of glaucoma eyedrop, and no cases of progression in the stage of visual field defect.

CONCLUSION

Filtration surgery using the Ex-PRESS is unlikely to cause early complications in Japanese patients. Similarly to the trabeculectomy, the intermediate-term control of IOP showed favorable results.