Contact transscleral laser cyclocoagulation in glaucoma.

A new way to treat glaucoma by laser coagulation of the ciliary body was developed. The laser beam is channeled to the eye through the fiberoptic system. The tip of the fiberoptic probe is placed in direct contact with the surface of the eye to be treated. The technical equipment developed for contact transscleral laser cyclocoagulation is simple, practical, and easy to use. The method was investigated experimentally (on animals and on human eyes to be enucleated) and tried in clinical practice. Only patients facing glaucoma surgery (on whom all other methods of conservative therapy failed) were selected for this kind of treatment. The immediate hypotensive effect was approximately 13 mmHg during the first 24 hours; then there was a gradual elevation of the tension, reducing the initial effect on average by 30%. This method has definite advantages over surgical cyclocoagulation as far as safety and simplicity are concerned. The use of contact fiberoptic systems may open up new possibilities in other fields of laser treatment of glaucoma, including techniques to channel the laser beam to the structures of the anterior chamber angle.