Phacoemulsification as a Primary Treatment Modality for Chronic Angle Closure Glaucoma

Purpose: to study the efficacy and safety of phacoemulsification with intraocular lens implantation for controlled angle closure glaucoma. Design: prospective non randomized comparative study. Methods: 50 eyes of 36 patients were included in the study. 25 eyes were treated by primary phacoemulsification with IOL implantation (IOL group) and 25 eyes were treated by laser iridotomy (LI group). IOP, number of antiglucoma medications, corneal endothelial cell counts were assessed in each group. Results: in IOL group, IOP was significantly reduced from preoperative mean of 16.014 +/- 0.27mmHg to a 6 months postoperative mean of 11.68 +/- 0.12mmHg (P=0.001). However in LI group, the mean preoperative IOP was 15.99 +/- 0.003mmHg and the 6 months postoperative IOP was 15.95 +/- 0.20 (P=0.264). In IOL group, no cases used antiglucoma medications 6 months postoperatively while in LI group the mean number of antiglucoma medications was 0.23 +/- 0.04 (P=0.0001). There were no significant differences in preoperative and postoperative corneal endothelial cell counts between IOL & LI groups (P=0.63). Conclusion: phacoemulsification with intraocular lens implantation for controlled CACG is a safe and effective method in reducing IOP, so the procedure could be the treatment of choice for controlled CACG with cataract. [Moataz El Sawy. Phacoemulsification as a Primary Treatment Modality for Chronic Angle Closure Glaucoma. Life Sci J 2012; 9(3): 2325-2328]. (ISSN: 1097-8135). http://www.lifesciencesite.com.335