Comparative evaluation of hypotensive effectiveness of topical monotherapy and selective laser trabeculectomy

Abstract

Comparison of the hypotensive effects of selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT) and drug therapy in patients with newly diagnosed primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) and ocular hypertension. Thirty patients (30 eyes) with newly diagnosed ophthalmic hypertension or POAG were observed. Patients of the 1st group (15 eyes) underwent standard SLT as a starting treatment, patients of the 2nd group (15 eyes) were prescribed monotherapy with a prostaglandin analog. Corneal compensated intraocular pressure (IOPcc) was measured for each patient using Ocular Response Analyzer («Reichert Technologies», USA). The observation period lasted 6 months. During the 6-months follow-up, tafluprost was found to effectively reduce IOP in 93.3% of cases, SLT - in 73.3% of cases. There were no statistically significant differences in hypotensive effectiveness between the two compared treatments, which amounted to 27.9-28.5% reduction from the baseline values. Selective laser trabeculectomy and topical drug therapy have shown similar hypotensive effectiveness during the 6-months follow-up when used as the initial therapy for POAG.