RESEARCH ARTICLE
Long-Term Outcomes of Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty (SLT) Treatment
Marcelo Ayala*, Enping Chen
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2011Volume: 5
First Page: 32
Last Page: 34
Publisher ID: TOOPHTJ-5-32
DOI: 10.2174/1874364101105010032
Article History:
Received Date: 1/10/2010Revision Received Date: 3/2/2011
Acceptance Date: 4/3/2011
Electronic publication date: 12/5/2011
Collection year: 2011
open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
Purpose:
Glaucoma is a progressive optic neuropathy that may lead to blindness. Reducing intraocular pressure (IOP) seems to be the only treatment that slows progression in glaucoma. IOP can be decreased by pharmaceutical treatment, laser treatment or surgery.
The aim of the present study was to assess the long-term efficacy of selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT) treatment.
Methods:
Retrospective chart review of eyes that underwent SLT between 1 January 2005 and 31 December 2005. The primary outcome measure was time to failure after SLT treatment. Failure after SLT was defined as any one or more of the following: change in the medical treatment, performance of a further SLT treatment, the patient being sent for surgery. All patients were treated over 90° with SLT.
Results:
120 eyes of 120 patients were identified. The average time to failure after SLT was 18 months. The success rate after 12 months was 62%, after 24 months 34%, after 36 months 28% and after 48 months 24%.
Conclusions:
The long-term effects of SLT when eyes were treated over 90° seem to be low. The authors recommend treating patients over 180°, as has traditionally been done. We suggest that this will improve the long-term results.
