Micropulse laser for the treatment of glaucoma: A literature review

Glaucoma, a progressive optic neuropathy, is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. Glaucoma patients are usually initially managed with medications and laser therapies, before more invasive ocular surgeries. For laser treatments of glaucoma, laser trabeculoplasty and laser transscle...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Survey of ophthalmology 2019-07, Vol.64 (4), p.486-497
Main Authors: Ma, Andre, Yu, Stephanie W.Y., Wong, Jasper K.W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
glaucoma
Glaucoma - surgery
Humans
Laser Coagulation - methods
laser trabeculoplasty
Lasers, Semiconductor - therapeutic use
micropulse laser
micropulse trabeculoplasty
micropulse transscleral cyclophotocoagulation
subthreshold laser
Trabeculectomy - methods
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Summary:Glaucoma, a progressive optic neuropathy, is the leading cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. Glaucoma patients are usually initially managed with medications and laser therapies, before more invasive ocular surgeries. For laser treatments of glaucoma, laser trabeculoplasty and laser transscleral cyclophotocoagulation lower the intraocular pressure by increasing the aqueous outflow and decreasing the aqueous production, respectively. The development of a subthreshold laser technique, the micropulse laser, has been investigated as a potential alternative to traditional glaucoma laser procedures, with an aim to further decrease the risk of side effects without compromising the laser treatments' efficacy. Few reviews have been done on the 2 current micropulse laser treatments for glaucoma—micropulse laser trabeculoplasty and micropulse transscleral cyclophotocoagulation. Hence, the purpose of this review was to assess the efficacy and safety of micropulse laser techniques in the treatment of glaucoma.
ISSN:0039-6257
1879-3304
DOI:10.1016/j.survophthal.2019.01.001