Glaucoma laser procedures increasing following sharp decline

The number of laser trabeculoplasty procedures substantially decreased following the introduction of new glaucoma medications. However, new laser procedures may be reversing that trend, according to a study.

Rony Rachmiel, MD, and colleagues at the University of Toronto, retrospectively analyzed the numbers of laser trabeculoplasty procedures, filtration surgeries and glaucoma medications dispensed by age in Ontario, Canada, between April 1992 and March 2005. They found that LTP procedures decreased between 1997 and 2001, “coinciding but not correlated with the introduction of medications for the treatment of glaucoma,” the authors said in the study.

Between 1992 and 1996, the number of laser trabeculoplasty procedures per 1,000 persons estimated to have primary open angle glaucoma increased 8.1% from 138.05 to 149.23. Such procedures then declined 47.3% to 70.65 in 2001. However, LTP procedures increased 230% between 2001 and 2004 to total 162.54, which followed the introduction of selective laser trabeculoplasty, according to the study.

Between 1992 and 2004, the number of glaucoma medications dispensed in Ontario increased 91.5%. However, rates of laser trabeculoplasty procedures did not correlate with either the rates of new glaucoma medication use or filtration surgeries, the authors noted.

The study was published in the August issue of the Journal of Glaucoma.