title: [External sclerostomy using the THC:YAG Holmium laser in the treatment of glaucoma].
abstract: Ab externo THC:YAG Holmium laser sclerostomy is an interesting alternative to standard full thickness filtering surgery. We report our retrospective experience over a total number of 38 sclerostomies between march 1993 and september 1994 on 32 patients (33 eyes) with primary or secondary glaucomas composed of 17 phakic and 16 aphakic and/or pseudophakic eyes. The mean patient age is 62.9 years (range: 10 to 90 years). The mean follow-up time is 7.5 months (1 to 18 months). We used a long pulsed (300 microsec) laser emitting in the near infrared (2.1 microns). A conjunctival stab incision was made 12 mm away from the sclerostomy site to allow entry of a 22 G probe which delivers energy at a right angle to the long axis of the fiber. We used 100 mJ per pulse laser energy delivered at a rate of 5 impacts per second. The mean delivered energy to produce a functional sclerostomy was 16.1 J. All patients received subconjunctival injections of 5 Fluorouracil (mean number of injections: 7.4). Criteria for success included an IOP of 22 mmH or less with or without additional medical treatment and a decrease of at least 30% of IOP when the preoperative IOP was 22 mmHg or less. The mean preoperative IOP was 35.8 mmHg (21 to 54 mmHg). By 3 months, the mean IOP of the 14 eyes over 19 successfully controlled was 15.2 mmHg (8 to 22 mmHg) with additional medical treatment in 3 cases. By 6 months, 11 eyes over 11 successfully controlled was 14.1 mmHg (6 to 21 mmHg) with additional medical treatment in 3 cases.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001035:Aphakia / Q000601:surgery; D002648:Child; D018463:Filtering Surgery / Q000379:methods; D005901:Glaucoma / Q000601:surgery*; D006695:Holmium; D006801:Humans; D053685:Laser Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D007910:Lenses, Intraocular; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012599:Sclerostomy / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D006695:Holmium
vernacular_title: La sclérostomie ab externo au laser THC:YAG holmium dans le traitement des glaucomes.