[The Ahmed valve implant in complicated glaucoma].

PURPOSE: Prospective study initiated in September of 1994 in patients with complicated glaucoma who had had the Ahmed valve implanted.

METHODS

12 eyes from 12 patients were studied until February of 1996, with a median follow-up of 9.3+/-5.1 months (range 3-18 months). The most common diagnostic was pseudophakic glaucoma (8 ojos). 3 eyes had aphakic glaucoma and 1 eye had traumatic glaucoma. The success is defined as intraocular pressure (IOP) </=20 mmHg. without oral carbonic anhydrase inhibitors (OCAI) treatment.

RESULTS

The IOP was reduced (p<0.01) of 26.2+/-9.96 mmHg to 15.7+/-4.48 mmHg. The success was of 83.3% but only 2 eyes (16.6%) were controlled effectively without treatment. The major complication was the Tenon's cyst (25%).

CONCLUSIONS

From the percentage of successes (83.3%) and the absence of important complications we advise the implantation of the Ahmed glaucoma valve in those patients with complicated glaucoma after a failure of filtrating surgery with mitomycin-C.