Abstract
Purpose :
The eyePlate glaucoma drainage implant (eyePlate, Rheon Medical SA) is a novel non-valved drainage device constructed entirely out of medical grade silicone. This study evaluates the 6-month efficacy and safety of the eyePlate-300 implant in cases of uncontrolled glaucoma. To our knowledge this is the first report of this novel glaucoma drainage implant device.
Methods :
A retrospective, non-comparative study of 16 consecutive eyes treated with the eyePlate-300 glaucoma drainage implant at the Western Eye Hospital, London between March 2020 and April 2021 was performed.The patients were followed up for 6 months. For all patients, care was overseen by the same glaucoma consultant who performed all the surgeries under local anaesthesia. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk tests established normality of results. The paired t-test was used to assess statistical significance of the results.
Results :
A total of 15 patients (16 eyes) were included. The mean age was 59.7 (15.8) years. The most common diagnosis was primary open angle glaucoma (37.5%). Previous procedures included trabeculectomy (31.25%), micropulse diode laser trabeculoplasty (56.25%), iStent (12.5%) and cyclodiode laser (12.5%). Mean pre-treatment IOP was 31.5 (mmHg. There was a significant reduction (p<0.05) in IOP at 1 month to 11.8 (4.2) mmHg (62.6% reduction), at 3 months to 16.25 (2.3) mmHg (51.6% reduction) and at 6 months to 15.4 (2.2) mmHg (51.1% reduction). The requirement of topical treatment significantly reduced (p<0.0.5) from a baseline of 3.44 (1.09), to 2.06 (0.42) at 1 month, 2.0 (0.47) at 3 months and 2 (0.46) at 6 months. There was no statistically significant drop in visual acuity or increase in central retinal thickness found. Two patients (12.5%) experienced prolonged uveitis requiring extended steroid treatment for resolution. Three patients (18.75%) had post-op hypotony with choroidal effusions but showed an improved VA at 6 months. None of the patients required any further surgery.
Conclusions :
The above results have shown the eyePlate-300 to be significantly effective in reducing IOP and need for topical treatment in patients with refractory glaucoma within a 6-month period following surgery. Further long-term data is needed to confirm efficacy and comparability to current commonly used procedures.
This abstract was presented at the 2022 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Denver, CO, May 1-4, 2022, and virtually.