Abstract
Purpose:
To investigate whether Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty done on one eye affects the IOP of the fellow eye within a two year follow up period.
Methods:
A retrospective chart review of patients with Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty treatment of one eye was performed. Patients were excluded if they had a previous trabeculoplastic, selective or argon, in the treated or fellow eye, additionally patients were excluded if they required additional trabeculoplasty in the followup period, , patients with a history of previous aqueous shunting procedure, uveitic glaucoma, previous trauma, Grade I or Grade 0 angle configuration by Shaffer criteria were excluded.
Results:
A total of 22 patient charts were reviewed and analyzed. The time points were divided into pre-treatment (22 patients), 1-3 months (20 patients), 4-9 months (19 patients), 12-15 months (15 patients) and 18-24 months (11 patients). Within the SLT group, there was a statistically significant difference in the pretreatment IOP in compared to the all post-treatment time points. However, the only statistically significant reduction in IOP within the fellow eye group occurred at the first time point of 1-3 months post treatment (p=.0251). When comparing the groups, there was a statistically significant difference (p=.0005) in the pre-treatment IOP between the treated and untreated eye groups. None of the follow-up time points showed a statistically significant difference between these two groups. During the two year follow-up, 7 of 22 (31.8%) patients had IOP lowering medication changes, 3 of which had an increase in the number of medications and 3 with a decrease; an additional patient had medication restarted and stopped throughout the two year follow-up ultimately leading to a decrease in drops.
Conclusions:
The SLT treated eye group showed a statistically significant decrease in IOP at all time points when compared to pretreatment IOP. After SLT, the IOP in the fellow eye showed a statistically significant decrease only in the first 1 to 3 months post treatment. After this time point, there was no significant difference in IOP between treated and untreated eyes.
Keywords: 578 laser •
568 intraocular pressure