Ahmed valve implantation results in children with uveitic glaucoma

The purpose is to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of Ahmed valve implantation in children with refractory postuveitic glaucoma (PUG). Material and methods . Ahmed valve was implanted to 10 children aged 7 to 17 years (10 eyes) with open-angle or mixed PUG uncompensated even by a maximum antihypertensive mode. Previously, all patients had undergone an average of 2.1 ± 0.9 surgeries aimed at normalizing the intraocular pressure (IOP) (predominantly, sinus trabeculectomy). 6 eyes were pseudophakic, 2 phakic, 2 aphakic. Ahmed valves were implanted according to the generally accepted technique. At the time of surgery IOP was 30.50 ± 4.35 mm Hg on average. The follow-up postsurgical period ranged from 3.9 to 23.6 months (averagely, 14.1 ± 6.5). Results. A stable hypotensive effect of the intervention was achieved in 90 % of cases, of which 3 patients had no hypotensives while 6 patients received hypotensive drugs even though their quantity was significantly smaller than before surgery (1.7 ± 1.49, p=0.028). At the end of the follow-up the average IOP was 18.1 ± 5.34 mm Hg, (significantly lower than before surgery, p = 0.008). During surgery, 1 patient experienced bleeding from the vessels of the anterior chamber angle after paracentesis, which was stopped by tamponade with sterile air. In other cases, the surgery as well as the immediate and distant postoperative period showed no complications. Conclusion. Ahmed valve implantation is an effective and safe method of the surgical treatment of refractory PUG in children and can be recommended in cases when previous antiglaucomatous operations proved ineffective, including patients with pseudophakia and aphakia.