Endoscopic Cyclophotocoagulation and Pars Plana Ablation (ECP-plus) to Treat Refractory Glaucoma.

Purpose: To report clinical outcomes after pars plana endoscopic cyclophotocoagulation of the ciliary processes and pars plana (ECP-plus), a novel treatment for refractory glaucoma.

Design: Retrospective, noncomparative interventional case series.

Setting: multicenter tertiary referral academic and clinical practice.

Study Population: fifty-three eyes of 53 consecutive subjects undergoing ECP-plus who had uncontrolled intraocular pressure (IOP) despite prior glaucoma surgeries and maximally tolerated medical therapy.

Observation Procedure: retrospective analysis of clinical data after ECP-plus and pars plana vitrectomy.

Main Outcome Measures: primary outcome was IOP at 6 and 12 months. Secondary outcomes were number of glaucoma medications and postoperative complications.

Results: Diagnoses were primary open-angle glaucoma (32%), chronic angle-closure glaucoma (26%), and secondary open-angle glaucoma (OAG, 42%); 50/53 of subjects had 6 months' and 28/53 had 12 months' follow-up data. Preoperative IOP was 27.9±7.5 mm Hg (mean±SD). Postoperative IOP at 6 mo was 10.2±5.6 and at 12 mo was 10.7±5.2 lower than preoperative levels (all P<0.0001). Cumulative treatment success was 81% at 6 mo and 78% at 12 mo. Number of medications fell from 3.4±1.2 pretreatment to 0.8±1.0 at 1 to 6 mo and 0.7±1.2 at 12 mo postoperatively (all P<0.0001). Complications in the initial postoperative period (<3 mo) were hypotony (3/53, 6%), fibrinous uveitis (2/53, 4%), and cystoid macular edema without hypotony (CME; 4/53, 6%). Complications beyond 6 mo occurred in 8/50 (16%) subjects as hypotony (4/50, 8%), choroidal detachment (4/50, 3 with IOP<5 and 1 with IOP≥5; 8%), CME without hypotony (3/50, 6%), and failed corneal graft (1/50, 2%).

Conclusions: The mean IOP was lowered by at least 61% after ECP-plus and IOP lowering was sustained over the follow-up period. Fewer glaucoma medications were needed. Complication rates were comparable with or slightly higher than anterior endoscopic cyclophotocoagulation and acceptable given the refractory nature of disease being treated.