Gelatin implant in the treatment of open-angle glaucoma: Safety and efficacy in real-life conditions.

Objective: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of the Xen® implant for the treatment of open-angle glaucoma.

Material And Method: Retrospective study including patients who received the Xen® implant between January 2019 and December 2020 in a university hospital. Demographic and medical data were collected using DxCare® software. The primary endpoint was a 20% reduction in intraocular pressure (IOP) at 12 months according to Société Française du Glaucome (SFG) recommendations. The secondary endpoints were decrease in glaucoma medications and incidence of adverse events.

Results: Fifty-three patients (65 eyes) were included (sex ratio 0.65, age 75.38±7.31 years). IOP decreased by 18.51% from 17.86±4.22mmHg to 14.55±2.66mmHg (P<0.05). The number of glaucoma medications was 2.16±1.01 preoperatively vs 0.49±0.94 postoperatively (P<0.05). Adverse events included 8 malpositionings, 3 of which required reoperation, 1 case of increased IOP resolved by trabeculectomy, 1 case of venous ischemia treated by photocoagulation, 3 choroidal detachments and 3 corneal ulcers. Needling was required for 18 eyes.

Conclusion: At 12 months, the IOP was lower than previously reported in the literature (14.55 vs 15.90mmHg, P<0.05), probably due to a lower preoperative IOP. The number of postoperative medications was similar to the literature (0.49 vs 0.40, P=0.51), as was the frequency of needling (27.69% vs 32.00%, P=0.36). The frequency of malpositioning was higher (12.31% vs 7.70%, P<0.05), probably due to the management of complicated patients. The efficacy of Xen® was in line with recommendations. It would be interesting to compare the efficacy of Xen® with trabeculectomy.