A review of trabeculectomies at a Nigerian teaching Hospital

Abstract

SUMMARY BACKGROUND Trabeculectomy is the commonest surgical procedure for glaucoma. The outcome of trabeculectomy in the treatment of all types of glaucoma over a 4-year period in a Nigerian population was reviewed. OBJECTIVE To determine the surgical rate and effectiveness of trabeculectomy in lowering of intra ocular pressure (IOP) and preservation of visual acuity. METHODS Retrospective review of all trabeculectomies (TEs) done at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital, Ile-Ife between January 1999 and December 2002. The outcome of trabeculectomy was correlated with the biomicroscopic appearance of the filtering bleb, visual acuity and IOP levels. Descriptive statistics were applied to the data. RESULTS Of the 647 glaucoma patients only fifty-three (8.2%), 34 males and 19 females, had trabeculectomy done during the study period. Seventy-two consecutive eyes of these 53 Nigerian patients were operated upon. Majority, 63 (87.5%) were in the primary glaucoma group of which 46 (63.9%) were open angle glaucoma type. Nine eyes (12.5%) belonged to the secondary glaucoma group (neovascular, uveitic and traumatic angle recession). Successful control of intra-ocular pressure with medical therapy was recorded only in 13.9% of the patients. The mean pre-operative and first post-operative day IOP were 32.5+/- 6.2mmHg and 10.6+/- 2.3mmHg respectively. Mean post-op IOP at 3 months and one year were 14.6+/- 4.2mmHg, and 13.5+/- 5.8mmHg respectively. One year after surgery 34 eyes (61.8%) had intraocular pressure (IOP) of 20mm Hg or less without glaucoma medication. Hyphema 11 (15.3%) was the commonest post-operative complication documented. CONCLUSIONS Surgical intervention in the management of glaucoma, especially trabeculectomy is not commonly done in this Teaching Hospital. IOP control with medication alone is not adequate in the long term. A significant proportion of the eyes (61.8%) had complete success in IOP control following trabeculectomy.