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Surgeon: Viscocanalostomy, phaco-viscocanalostomy safe and effective for glaucoma
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NUREMBERG, Germany — Viscocanalostomy and phaco-viscocanalostomy both safely and effectively decrease patient IOP, according to a British surgeon speaking here.
Clive Peckar, MD, of the Warrington Hospital in the United Kingdom presented data to attendees of the Congress of German Ophthalmic Surgeons comparing the effectiveness of the two techniques.
Dr. Peckar told the audience he performed viscocanalostomy on 34 patients and phaco-viscocanalostomy on 76 patients, with a mean follow-up of 7.5 years for both groups.
At their maximum IOPs, the viscocanalostomy patients had a mean IOP of 37 mm Hg, and the phaco-viscocanalostomy patients had a mean IOP of 33 mm Hg, he said.
The postoperative results showed that IOP in the viscocanalostomy patients fell to 17 mm Hg. Similarly, IOP in the phaco-visco patients fell to 16 mm Hg, he said.
“Viscocanalostomy is a safe and effective surgical procedure for the prevention of chronic glaucoma, and phaco-visco is a safe and effective surgical procedure for the prevention of cataract in association with glaucoma,” he said.
Dr. Peckar described himself as a pupil of the inventor of the viscocanalostomy technique, Robert Stegmann, MD, who was in attendance at the talk.
Dr. Peckar told the audience that he learned the technique from Dr. Stegmann in 1997 as an alternative to bleb-dependent surgical techniques, which are known to have high failure rates.
Describing viscocanalostomy, Dr. Peckar said that if performing phacoemulsification is warranted, “it should be done after you’ve opened Schlemm’s canal, but before you create Descemet’s window” and remove the juxtacanalicular endothelial cell layer.