Anterior chamber particles are associated with reduction of intraocular pressure after selective laser trabeculoplasty.

PURPOSE

To study the correlation between intraocular pressure (IOP) reduction and the number of hyper-reflective particles appearing in the anterior chamber following selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT).

MATERIAL AND METHODS

In this prospective interventional study, we included primary open-angle glaucoma patients. All participants received a standardised SLT session, which consisted of 100 pulses of 0.9 mJ over 360°. Anterior segment optical coherence tomography (4×4 mm volume scan, 101 horizontal cross-sectional scans) and applanation tonometry were performed before SLT and 15 min, 1 day, 1 week, 1 month and 3 months after. Particles were counted on cross-sectional scans using a standardised algorithm.

RESULTS

In this study, we included 25 patients (25 eyes), 14 males and 11 females, with a mean age of 68.9±10.5 and baseline IOP of 21.4±4.5 mm Hg. IOP at month 1 and month 3 after SLT was 18.0±4.0 and 17.4±3.3 mm Hg, respectively. The mean number of anterior chamber particles before and 15 min after SLT was 0.62±0.2 and 7.1±2.0 particles/mm, respectively (p=0.036). There was a statistically significant correlation between the mean number of anterior chamber particles 15 min after SLT and IOP reduction at 1 month (r=0.62, p=0.03) and 3 months (r=0.71, p=0.01).

CONCLUSION

The number of the anterior chamber particles graded using anterior segment optical coherence tomography after the procedure correlates with the IOP-lowering effect of SLT.