TRABECULECTOMY WITH INTRAOPERATIVE SPONGE 5-FLUOROURACIL

Purpose: To retrospectively assess the outcome of trabeculectomy surge ry performed using intraoperative sponge 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) (50 mg/ ml). Methods: Trabeculectomy with intraoperative sponge 5-FU was perfo rmed on 140 eyes of 119 patients. The reduction in intraocular pressur e (IOP), the number of supplementary postoperative injections, and any treatment complications were noted, Results: The mean preoperative IO P was 25.7 +/- 8.6 mmHg, The mean postoperative IOP was 12.5 +/- 5.7 m mHg with a mean IOP reduction of 52% (P < 0.0001). One hundred twenty- one (86.4%) eyes required no postoperative glaucoma medications, with the mean number of glaucoma medications dropping from 2.5 +/- 1.1 befo re operation to 0.3 +/- 0.8 after operation (P < 0.001). One hundred f ive eyes received a mean of 5.3 +/- 2.7 postoperative 5-FU injections. There was no significant difference in final IOP or success rate betw een low- and high-risk eyes, but high-risk eyes seemed to require supp lementary postoperative 5-FU. Corneal epithelial damage arose in 52 (3 7%) eyes and correlated strongly with postoperative 5-FU supplementati on. Conclusion: Intraoperative sponge 5-FU is a reasonably safe and ef fective adjunct to trabeculectomy surgery.