Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare outcomes of transscleral diode cyclophotocoagulation using short duration (SD) versus longer duration (LD) treatment.
Patients and methods: Data were collected retrospectively on patients with glaucoma who underwent cyclophotocoagulation with LD (4000 ms) treatment with variable power ≤1000 mW versus SD using 1500 ms with variable power ≤2000 mW. The outcome measures included: intraocular pressure (IOP) at 12 months, decrease in number of antiglaucoma medications, complications and visual acuity (VA) at the final follow-up visit.
Results: There were 71 patients and 70 patients in the SD and LD groups, respectively. The mean IOP±SD pretreatment baseline was 33±10 versus 36±10 mm Hg for SD and LD groups, respectively (P>0.05). At 1 year postoperatively, the IOP decreased significantly in both groups (16.7 vs. 17.4 mm Hg for SD and LD, respectively; P<0.0001). This decrease in IOP was comparable between groups (P=0.5). The average number of IOP lowering medications were 2.5 and 2.9 at baseline in the SD and LD groups, respectively, and decreased to 1.3 in both groups (P=0.83). The mean LogMAR VA decreased significantly from 1.87 at baseline to 1.96 at 1 year in the SD group (P=0.276), and 2.03 to 2.3 (P≤0.001) in the LD group, this change was comparable (0.19; P=0.075) between the 2 groups. Complications were also comparable.
Conclusions: Both LD and SD burns during cyclophotocoagulation effectively lowered IOP at 1 year. Neither treatment resulted in a greater reduction of IOP. LD treatment appeared to result in a decrease in VA and greater postoperative inflammation.