This study quantifies end of life vision in terms of VA and visual field status.
A prospective service evaluation of patients undergoing trabeculectomy who died prior to the study evaluation point.
160 of 659 patients had died (24.3%), 4 were excluded due to insufficient data, leaving 156 patients (196 eyes) for evaluation. Male-to-female ratio was 3:2, 86% of patients were Caucasian. Mean age at surgery on the first eye was 76.5 years (SD 9.0). Life expectancy post-trabeculectomy was 7.5 years (0.1–17.2). Mean change in VA was LogMAR 0.32 (SD 0.59) and visual field mean deviation progressed at a median of −0.44 dB/year (from −5.98 to 3.9) for eyes with at least a year of follow-up. Severe vision loss (loss of ≥10 letters on LogMAR) occurred in 78 eyes (40%) of which 18 (9%) were due to glaucoma, 69 patients (44%) required glaucoma drops at end of life.
The study concluded that the trabeculectomy is successful in slowing or preventing further glaucoma progression and thus maintaining visual function in the majority of eyes for the remainder of life.
Reference: https://bjo.bmj.com/content/early/2020/09/18/bjophthalmol-2020-317004
