Trabeculectomy with Healaflow versus Trabeculectomy for the Treatment of Glaucoma: A Case-Control Study

Abstract

Purpose. To compare the outcomes of trabeculectomy with and without Healaflow (Anteis S.A, Geneva, Switzerland), a high molecular weight viscoelastic gel, in patients requiring glaucoma surgery.Methods. This was a retrospective, comparative, interventional case-control study. Forty patients formed two matched study groups and were analyzed (trabeculectomy alone (control) versus trabeculectomy with Healaflow (study)).Results. The postoperative levels of mean IOP were statistically significantly lowerP<0.05than preoperatively in both groups, for all time intervals. There was no statistical difference, at the end of the follow-up period, between the two groups in the mean values of the IOP (14.9 ± 3.2 mmHg for the study group versus 14.8 ± 3.3 mmHg for the control group). The number of antiglaucoma drugs used in the study group was reduced from a preoperative mean of 3.4 ± 0.75 to a 6-month postoperative mean of 0.6 ± 0.8P<0.001and in the control group from 3.6 ± 0.59 to 0.55 ± 0.9P<0.001.Conclusions. Although trabeculectomy with Healaflow appears to be a safe procedure, we failed to identify any significant advantages in the use of Healaflow when compared with trabeculectomy alone, at the end of the 6-month follow-up period.