Treatment Outcomes in Malignant Glaucoma

Purpose To report treatment outcomes in malignant glaucoma. Design Retrospective case series. Participants Twenty-eight eyes of 26 patients who were treated for malignant glaucoma between 1991 and 2009. Methods Malignant glaucoma was diagnosed based on the presence of a shallow or flat central and peripheral anterior chamber in the presence of patent iridotomy, with intraocular pressure (IOP) of 22 mmHg or more after any intraocular surgery. The treatment algorithm included antiglaucoma medications and cycloplegics as first-line methods; the second-line therapy in pseudophakic eyes was laser hyaloidotomy, followed by vitrectomy-hyaloidotomy-iridectomy (VHI) or transscleral cyclophotocoagulation (TSCPC). Main Outcome Measures Resolution was defined as deepening of the central anterior chamber and IOP of 21 mmHg or less (on 2 successive follow-ups at least 1 week apart) with or without topical antiglaucoma medications in the absence of systemic antiglaucoma medications. Results At the diagnosis of malignant glaucoma, 5 eyes were phakic and 23 were pseudophakic. The preceding surgeries were trabeculectomy (11 eyes), cataract surgery (10 eyes), and combined cataract and glaucoma surgery (7 eyes). Mean IOP decreased from 34±8.3 mmHg at presentation to 14.3±5.2 mmHg at the last visit ( P