Clinical Ophthalmology (Jul 2023)
Early Experience with the Paul Glaucoma Implant in Childhood Glaucoma: A Case Series
Abstract
Abdelrahman M Elhusseiny,1,2,* Mohamed M Khodeiry,3,4,* Richard K Lee,4 Tarek Shaarawy,5 Salman Waqar,6 Mohamed S Sayed6 1Department of Ophthalmology, Harvey and Bernice Jones Eye Institute, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR, USA; 2Department of Ophthalmology, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA; 3Department of Ophthalmology, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA; 4Department of Ophthalmology, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA; 5Department of Ophthalmology, Hôpitaux Universitaires de Genève, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland; 6Glaucoma Division, Moorfields Eye Hospitals, Dubai, United Arab Emirates*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Mohamed S Sayed, Glaucoma Division, Moorfields Eye Hospitals, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Tel +97144297888, Email [email protected]: The Paul glaucoma implant (PGI, Advanced Ophthalmic Innovations, Singapore, Republic of Singapore) is a recently developed novel non-valved glaucoma drainage device (GDD) designed to effectively reduce the intraocular pressure (IOP) in glaucoma patients with a theoretically reduced risk of postoperative complications such as hypotony, endothelial cell loss, strabismus, and diplopia. Limited literature has evaluated its use in adult glaucoma; however, its use in pediatric glaucoma has not been reported to date. We present our early experience with PGI in refractory childhood glaucoma.Patients and Methods: This study was retrospective single-surgeon case series in a single tertiary center.Results: Three eyes of 3 patients with childhood glaucoma were enrolled in the study. During nine months of follow-up, postoperative IOP and number of glaucoma medications were significantly lower than preoperative values in all the enrolled patients. None of the patients developed postoperative complications including postoperative hypotony, choroidal detachment, endophthalmitis, or corneal decompensation.Conclusion: PGI is an efficient and relatively safe surgical treatment option in patients with refractory childhood glaucoma. Further studies with larger number of participants and longer follow-up period are required to confirm our encouraging results.Keywords: glaucoma, pediatric, intraocular pressure, tube, Paul glaucoma implant