ND-YAG LASER FOR AHMED TUBE SHUNT OCCLUSION BY THE POSTERIOR CAPSULE

The authors describe the case of a 60-year-old aphakic woman who had s uffered from glaucoma with uncontrolled intraocular pressure. She was treated by Ahmed tube shunt implantation. On the first postoperative d ay, the intraocular pressure was unacceptably high and the tip of the implant tube was seen to be embedded in a fold of the posterior capsul e, with its opening covered by the posterior capsule. The authors used the Nd:YAG laser to cut open the fold of the posterior capsule that w as covering the tip of the tube, thereby restoring the intraocular pre ssure to normal. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the fi rst report of a tube shunt occlusion by the posterior capsule resolved by the Nd:YAG laser.