Trabeculectomy improves blood flow in pilot study

THOROFARE, N.J. — Optic nerve head blood flow can be significantly increased after trabeculectomy, a pilot study in Israel suggests.

Blood flow values, as measured by blood flowmetry, were often doubled from their presurgical values in patients who underwent trabeculectomy, said Rony Rachmiel, MD, and colleagues. Details of the study will appear in the Nov. 1, 2001, issue of Ocular Surgery News.

Dr. Rachmiel and colleagues with the Kaplan Medical Center in Rehovat, Israel, analyzed pre- and postsurgical blood flow values in 10 patients who underwent trabeculectomy. All 10 patients showed greatly improved ocular circulation. The mean value of the blood flow improvement was 127% in the upper and 121% in the lower peripapillary region, Dr. Rachmiel said.

In some patients, the patients' superior scotomata were decreased as inferior nerve head perfusion was restored, or inferior scotomata improved as the regions of the nerve were reperfused.

Patients with wide variations in intraocular pressure (IOP) might benefit from a blood flow study and, depending on the results, earlier consideration of trabeculectomy, suggested Dr. Rachmiel.

The study did not evaluate the relationship between medically lowered IOP and blood flow in open-angle glaucoma, Dr. Rachmiel said.