Glaucoma Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Glaucoma, including details on cataracts, surgery, treatment, blindness.

Clinical experience with the double-plate Ahmed glaucoma valve.

Al-Aswad LA, Netland PA, Bellows AR, Ajdelsztajn T, Wadhwani RA, Ataher G, Hill RA

Hamilton Eye Institute, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, Tennessee 38163, USA.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of the double-plate Ahmed Glaucoma Valve. DESIGN: Multicenter, retrospective observational case series. METHODS: We reviewed 50 eyes in 50 patients treated with the double-plate Ahmed Glaucoma Valve with mean follow-up of 11.7+/-7.9 months. RESULTS: Average intraocular pressure was reduced from 36.0+/-12.4 mm Hg before surgery to 15.8+/-7.7 mm Hg at the most recent follow-up after surgery (P<.001). The number of glaucoma medications was decreased from 3.3+/-0.8 before surgery to 1.4+/-1.4 after surgery (P<.001). The percent of success was 76% of eyes at the latest follow-up. Choroidal effusion occurred in four eyes (8%) and did not require surgical treatment in any eye. CONCLUSIONS: Despite a poor prognosis group of patients in this study, the double-plate Ahmed Glaucoma Valve was effective in lowering intraocular pressure with a low incidence of complications associated with hypotony.

Published 6 February 2006 in Am J Ophthalmol, 141(2): 390-391.
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