Purpose: To determine the potential of anterior-segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT) to predict posttrabeculectomy outcomes in neovascular glaucoma (NVG).
Patients and methods: We recruited 45 eyes of 40 NVG patients who underwent trabeculectomy. The patients were divided into success and failure groups based on the posttrabeculectomy outcome after 12 months. AS-OCT findings were compared in the success and failure groups at 1 and 2 weeks and 1, 3, 6, and 12 months. We also analyzed early posttrabeculectomy bleb parameters with multiple logistic regression, stepwise multiple regression, and the receiver operating characteristic curve to evaluate the power of these parameters to predict long-term outcomes.
Results: Intraocular pressure at 6 and 12 months was lower in the success group than the failure group (P<0.0016=0.0048). Reflectivity of the bleb wall was higher in the failure group than the success group throughout the study (all: P<0.0016). Age and reflectivity of the bleb wall at 1 week were risk factors for failure with odds ratios for failure of 0.91 and 1.67. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for reflectivity of the bleb wall at 1 week was 0.943 with the cutoff set at 128.9 (sensitivity: 85.7%; specificity: 100.0%). Stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that reflectivity of the bleb wall at 1 week independently indicated the bleb survival period (β=-0.84; P<0.001).
Conclusions: AS-OCT-measured reflectivity of the bleb wall, measured at 1 week of trabeculectomy for NVG, might be able to predict of the final status of the bleb.