Some individuals with uveitis-related ocular hypertension or glaucoma benefit from Kahook Dual Blade (KDB) goniotomy in order to successfully reduce intraocular pressure. The goal of this research was to document a series of cases involving patients who had KDB goniotomy at a single center to treat uveitis-related ocular hypertension or open-angle glaucoma. Researchers reviewed the medical records of all patients at a single institution who had KDB goniotomy with trabecular meshwork excision between August 2017 and February 2020 for uveitis-related ocular hypertension or glaucoma. In total, 37 patients contributed 45 eyes to the case series.
In all cases, ocular hypertension developed despite maximal medical therapy and ultimately required surgical correction. Due to a lack of follow-up data before 5 months post-op, 2 eyes were disqualified. Having each patient’s intraocular pressure reduced to the target range or lower after surgery and subsequent medical treatment was considered a success. About 25 (55.6%,) out of 45 eyes had normal intraocular pressure at the most recent follow-up. Patients were removed from the analysis whenever they needed a second surgery, therefore the median follow-up time was 15.2±12.1 months (range: 0.5–36 months).
Preoperative medicine use, including oral carbonic anhydrase inhibitors, was common, with the average patient taking 3.7±1.2 drugs before surgery. From the time of surgery until the most recent clinic visit 2.5±1.9 , patients reduced their postoperative drug regimen by a mean of 1.2±1.6 medicines (P<0.0001*). Some patients with uveitis-related ocular hypertension or open-angle glaucoma may benefit from KDB goniotomy, as demonstrated by this larger case series.
