A Proposal for the Use of a Fixed Low-Energy Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty for Open Angle Glaucoma
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-1-2024
Abstract
Selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT) has been in routine clinical use for over 20 years with millions of patients successfully treated and a low rate of clinically significant complications. The procedure requires the clinician to manually position the laser beam on the trabecular meshwork using a gonioscopy lens and to titrate the SLT laser energy based on the amount of pigmentation in the angle, as well as the observation of small bubbles produced by the laser effect. We propose that SLT energy titration is unnecessary either to achieve intraocular pressure (IOP) reduction or to minimize potential side effects. Ample evidence to support our proposal includes multiple clinical reports demonstrating comparable levels of IOP reduction resulting from different laser energies, a large variety of energy and other laser parameters used in commercially available SLT lasers, and the nature of the laser-induced changes in the trabecular meshwork tissue with respect to energy. Despite these variations in laser parameters, SLT consistently reduces IOP with a low complication rate. We propose that using low fixed energy for all patients will effectively and safely lower patients' IOP while reducing the complexity of the SLT procedure, potentially making SLT accessible to more patients.
Recommended Citation
Sacks, Zachary; Katz, L. Jay; Gazzard, Gus; Van Tassel, Sarah H.; Blumenthal, Eytan Z.; Lerner, Fabian S.; Azuara-Blanco, Augusto; Spooner, Gregory John Roy; Solberg, Yoram; Samuelson, Thomas; and Belkin, Michael, "A Proposal for the Use of a Fixed Low-Energy Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty for Open Angle Glaucoma" (2024). Wills Eye Hospital Papers. Paper 216.
https://jdc.jefferson.edu/willsfp/216
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
PubMed ID
37851966
Language
English
Comments
This article is the author’s final published version in Journal of Glaucoma, Volume 33, Issue 1, January 2024, Pages 1-7.
The published version is available at https://doi.org/10.1097/IJG.0000000000002306. Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.