Purpose

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of combined bevacizumab–mitomycin c (MMC) in recurrent cases of pediatric glaucoma.

Methods

A prospective non-masked controlled study that included bilateral cases of 12 patients (24 eyes) with recurrent (had previous glaucoma surgery before) pediatric glaucoma. One eye in each patient (12 eyes) was assigned to trabeculectomy operation with combined application of MMC (0.4 mg/ml for 3 min) under and around the scleral flap before trabeculectomy and bevacizumab (avastin)(2.5 mg in 0.2 ml) injected subconjunctivally around the bleb after completing the surgery (group I). The other eye of each patient (12 eyes) was assigned to trabeculectomy operation with application of MMC (0.4 mg/ml for 3 min) only (group II). The mean follow-up period was 13±1 months.

Results

The mean age was 2.16±1.5 (range 7 months to 4.1 years). No significant difference in preoperative intraoperative pressure (IOP) was observed between the groups (P> 0.05). Recurrent primary congenital glaucoma represents 66.7% of the cases. Other cases included were recurrent aphakic and pseudophakic glaucoma 25% and recurrent post uveitic glaucoma 8.3%. The mean IOP was 12.1±4.2, 12.6±5.4, and 12.8±5.2 mm Hg in group I at 3, 6, and 12 months, respectively, and was 12.8±5.3, 13.7±6.7 and 15.6±5.9 mm Hg in group II at 3, 6, and 12 months, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference in the mean IOP between the studied groups at the 1-year follow-up visit (P< 0.05). In addition, group I showed a higher statistically significant difference in absolute and total success (75 and 91.7%, respectively) compared with group II (58.3 and 75%, respectively)(P< 0.05). The encountered complications included mild hyphema, which occurred in 8.33% in group 1, wound leakage, which occurred in 8.33% in each group, and shallow anterior chamber (AC), which occurred in 16.7% in each group and was the most common encountered complication in the study. One case of shallow AC in group I led to choroidal effusion (8.33%). One case in group II developed late bleb-related endophthalmitis after 3 months, which resulted in phthisis bulbi (8.33%).

Conclusion

The additive effect of subconjunctival bevacizumab to MMC-augmented trabeculectomy in the case of recurrent pediatric glaucoma was beneficial in improving the success rate. Better IOP control and prolonging the bleb survivalvia reducing the long-term need of using anti-glaucoma drugs postoperatively without adding complications had also been achieved with this technique. This offers a promising alternative for the treatment of this type of glaucoma.