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ACTA OPHTHALMOLOGICA SCANDINAVICA 2003

Needling revision of failed


filtering blebs after
trabeculectomy: a retrospective
study
Marit Fagerli, Kjell T. Løfors and Tor Elsås
Department of Ophthalmology, St. Olav University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway

ABSTRACT.
Purpose: To determine the efficacy and safety of needling revision of failed Mitomycin C (MMC) leads to a lower
filtering blebs. intraocular pressure (IOP) than surgery
Methods: We reviewed retrospectively 26 eyes that had undergone needling alone (Kitazawa et al. 1991; Skuta et al.
revision for a failed trabeculectomy. The needling revisions were performed either 1992; Katz et al. 1995; Azuara-Blanco
with adjunctive use of Mitomycin C, 5-Fluorouracil or without antimetabolites. et al. 1997). Postoperative subconjunc-
The procedure was usually performed as a clinic procedure, using a 27-gauge tival injections of 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU)
also improve the success rate of glau-
needle.
coma filtering surgery (Skuta et al. 1987;
Results: The mean follow-up time was 14.5  11.3 months (range 6.0–
Kitazawa et al. 1991; Fluorouracil
48.0 months). Intraocular pressure (IOP) decreased from 28.8  6.8 mmHg
Filtering Surgery Study Group 1989).
(range 19.0–40.0 mmHg) to 15.3  5.2 mmHg (range 7.0–35.0 mmHg). Twelve Several reports advocate needle revi-
eyes (46.2%) achieved success, defined as IOP 18 mmHg without medication; 11 sion with or without adjunctive MMC
eyes (42.3%) achieved qualified success, defined as IOP 18 mmHg with anti- or 5-FU as an effective, simple and low
glaucomatous medication, and three of 26 eyes (11.5%) were classified as fail- cost method of re-establishing filtration
ures. The success rate after the initial needling was 64% at 6 months and the in eyes with failed filtering blebs
same after 1 year and 2 years. The success rate after one or more needlings was (Pederson & Smith 1985; Ewing &
96% at 6 months and 77% at 1 year and 2 years. Complications developed in six Stamper 1990; Shin et al. 1993; Mardelli
of the 26 eyes (23.1%). These involved transient corneal epithelial defects in three et al. 1996; Chen & Palmberg 1997;
eyes (11.5%), temporary conjunctival wound leak in two eyes (7.7%), and Kapetansky & Kapetansky 1999).
development of bullous keratopathy in one high risk eye (3.8%). We present a retrospective study of
Conclusion: Our results are comparable to the results of other studies. Needling transconjunctival needle revision per-
revision appears to be a useful tool in the management of glaucoma. formed on eyes with a failed filtering
bleb after trabeculectomy.
Key words: glaucoma – needling revision – filtering bleb – trabeculectomy – Mitomycin C –
5-Fluorouracil

Acta Ophthalmol. Scand. 2003: 81: 577– 582 Patients and Methods
Copyright # Acta Ophthalmol Scand 2003.
Patient material
doi: 10.1046/j.1600-0420.2003.00126.x We reviewed the records of patients
who underwent needling revision for a
failed filtering operation with at least
proliferation of subconjunctival fibro- 6 months of follow-up during the per-
Introduction blasts and the biosynthesis of collagen iod from June 1997 to November 2001.
Trabeculectomy is the standard treat- and other extracellular materials (Skuta Patients with one or more failed tra-
ment for patients who have failed max- & Parrish 1987). beculectomies were considered candi-
imal tolerated medical therapy. Failure Adjunctive antifibrotic agents are dates for needling revision if their IOP
of the filtering bleb occurs at various being used increasingly in glaucoma was regarded as too high to preserve
times after a trabeculectomy. Scarring filtering surgery. The combination of the optic nerve. One or more needling
of the filtering bleb is caused mainly by trabeculectomy and intraoperative revisions were made if there was an

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ACTA OPHTHALMOLOGICA SCANDINAVICA 2003

open corneoscleral window and a bleb about 10 mm distal to the desired site of included one 5-year-old female child, 10
that appeared present to some extent. injection. The mixture was then injected women and 15 men. Mean IOP before
With increasing experience, in terms of near the intended site of revision, rais- revision was 28.8  6.8 mmHg (range
both technique and knowledge about ing a subconjunctival bleb. The eye was 19–40 mmHg). The average time between
how the bleb reacts post needling, we irrigated with saline solution after the the last failed filtration surgery and needle
aimed to attack a diminishing bleb injection until no backflow of MMC or revision was 1.91  2.48 months (range
quite early. This explains why we per- 5-FU could be seen from the needle 0.25–12 months).
formed needling on fast-shrinking blebs injection hole when examined with the There were 18 patients with primary
with rising pressure in nine eyes less Seidel test. open-angle glaucoma (OAG), one with
than 4 weeks after trabeculectomy. In After approximately 20–30 min, the congenital glaucoma and seven with
all eyes, we first tried a period of digital needling procedure was performed. A secondary glaucoma. Among the
bulbus massage to enhance the con- sterile and bent 27-gauge needle patients with secondary glaucoma, one
junctival filtration. If the pressure rise attached to a syringe was used, pene- had pigmentary glaucoma, one had
was considered to be caused by a tightly trating the conjunctiva about 10 mm haemorrhagic glaucoma, one had
sutured scleral flap, we performed laser from the assumed site of aqueous resist- Cogan–Reese iris nevus syndrome,
suture lysis. ance. The needle was advanced sub- two had chronic uveitis, one had glau-
Multiple needling revisions were some- conjunctivally toward the failed coma that developed after penetrating
times required because of inadequate filtering bleb site, and then over the keratoplasty for keratoconus, and one
pressure control after the first procedure. scleral flap of the trabeculectomy. This had glaucoma following serious trauma
The needling technique is described below. was repeated 3–10 times using a to-and- to the eye.
Bleb status was divided into dome- fro movement. If local elevation of the Seventeen eyes had undergone one
shaped cystic blebs (later called cystic conjunctiva did not occur, the needle trabeculectomy, three had undergone
blebs), diffuse low-prominent blebs tip was introduced underneath the two trabeculectomies, two had under-
(diffuse blebs), and small, almost flat- scleral flap to the level of the sclerot- gone trabeculectomy three times, one
tened blebs (flattened blebs). omy if the scleral flap could be seen four times, one five times and two
through the conjunctiva. Special care seven times. Nine eyes had a cystic
was taken throughout the procedure bleb, three eyes had a diffuse bleb and
Needling procedure not to buttonhole the conjunctiva or 14 eyes had a flattened bleb (Table 1).
After careful slit-lamp examination, top- to penetrate the sclera. Eight eyes had previously undergone
ical anaesthesia (Oxibuprocaine; Chauvin, After the procedure, the eye was surgery other than filtration surgery.
Essex, England) was applied to the eye examined for aqueous leak through Six patients had undergone cataract
three times, with 1 min between each the needle puncture point or elsewhere, extraction only. One eye had received
drop. Chloramphenicol eye drops were using the Seidel test. If necessary, the surgical treatment of a retinal detach-
then applied to the conjunctival surface conjunctival puncture wound was ment and had undergone cataract
twice and some patients were also given closed with a brief tamponade with a extraction associated with prior trauma
one drop of povidone-iodine 5% solution cotton applicator (Mardelli et al. 1996). to the eye. One patient had undergone a
(Betadine; Alcon, TX, USA). An aseptic All patients were placed on a combin- penetrating keratoplasty, with subse-
technique was used. ation of steroid and antibiotic eye drops, quent development of secondary glau-
The procedure was performed in the to be used four times daily for several coma.
clinic with the use of magnification weeks (usually 4–12 weeks). Thirteen eyes underwent needle revi-
with loupes or at the slit-lamp. A few sion with MMC, 10 eyes with 5-FU and
patients were needled under an operat- Follow-up three eyes underwent needle revision
ing microscope. Patients were examined at the slit-lamp without the use of antimetabolites.
The first cases of needling revision immediately after the needling revision Sixteen eyes underwent one single
were performed using MMC (Mardelli was performed, again after 1 day and needle revision procedure, four eyes
et al. 1996; Kapetansky et al. 1999). 1 week, and then as needed. For the underwent two procedures. Two eyes
After gaining more experience, we purpose of this study, follow-up is underwent three procedures, two eyes
increasingly used 5-FU in our practice registered after 3 weeks, 2 months and underwent four, one eye underwent 10
(Ewing et al. 1990; Shin et al. 1993). 6 months, and longer for some patients. and one eye underwent 13 needle revi-
We used MMC 0.02 ml (0.2 mg/ml) The procedure was regarded as suc- sions (Table 2).
and 0.02 ml of xylocaine with epineph- cessful if IOP was 18 mmHg without Three patients who underwent
rine 2%, making a total volume of any antiglaucomatous medication. several needling procedures had their
0.04 ml (taken from a larger volume of Qualified success was defined as eye needled with the use of MMC
1 : 1 mixture of the two agents), drawn IOP 18 mmHg with antiglaucomatous the first time and later with 5-FU.
through a 30-gauge needle, attached to medication. Failure was defined as This will be mentioned in the Dis-
a 1.0-ml syringe. IOP 19 mmHg with medication. cussion. For the convenience of this
The injections of 5-FU consisted of study, and because we regard MMC
0.1 ml of 5-FU (50 mg/ml) drawn as the most potent antimetabolite,
through a 30-gauge needle attached to these patients have been placed in
a 1.0-ml syringe.
Results the group with eyes needled with
For both MMC and 5-FU injections, The mean age of the subjects was MMC. Nineteen of the patients
the subconjunctival space was entered 62.7  21.4 years (range 5–84 years). They received subconjunctival injections of

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ACTA OPHTHALMOLOGICA SCANDINAVICA 2003

Table 1. Preoperative patient characteristics.

Eye Age Type of No. of Peroperative use Pre-needling Bleb


no. glaucoma trabeculectomies of MMC during IOP status
performed last trabeculectomy

1 46 pigmentary 7 yes 34 flattened


2 42 CoganReese sec 7 yes 26 flattened
3 5 congenital 3 yes 25 cystic
4 75 pseudophakic 3 yes 23 cystic
5 72 OAG 1 no 32 diffuse
6 72 OAG 1 no 22 cystic
7 79 OAG 1 no 40 cystic
8 62 exfoliative 1 yes 38 cystic
9 54 uveitic 4 yes 24 flattened
10 84 pseudophakic 2 yes 40 flattened
11 75 OAG 1 no 20 cystic
12 75 exfoliative 1 no 25 diffuse
13 84 exfoliative 1 no 28 flattened
14 67 OAG 1 no 30 cystic
15 28 uveitic 5 yes 40 flattened
16 81 haemorrhagic 1 no 20 diffuse
17 80 pseudophakic 2 yes 35 flattened
18 79 exfoliative 1 no 38 flattened
19 76 exfoliative 1 no 29 flattened
20 75 exfoliative 1 no 20 cystic
21 74 pseudophakic 1 no 24 flattened
22 66 exfoliative 1 no 26 flattened
23 62 OAG 1 no 19 flattened
24 27 post-traumatic 2 yes 35 flattened
25 22 secondary 1 yes 30 cystic
26 67 OAG 1 no 26 flattened
Mean  SD 62.7  21.4 2.0  1.8 28.8  6.8

5-FU (5 mg in 0.1 ml) shortly after the Table 5 compares the results of the developed bullous keratopathy. This
needling procedure and in total needling revision according to the type patient had earlier undergone seven
received 2–10 injections. of bleb. There was no difference in the filtering operations, followed by 10
Mean follow-up from last needling overall success between eyes with a flat- needling procedures with MMC and
procedure was 14.5  11.3 months (range tened filtering bleb prior to needling several subconjunctival injections of
6.0–48.0 months). Intraocular pressure and those with a cystic bleb. There 5-FU. He later underwent a penetrating
decreased from 28.8  6.8 mmHg (range were only three eyes with a diffuse keratoplasty.
19.0–40.0 mmHg) to 15.3  5.2 mmHg bleb; they all achieved a qualified suc-
(range 7.0–35.0 mmHg). Overall, 12 of cess but this group is too small in num-
26 eyes (46.2%) achieved a successful ber to compare with the other groups.
result, 11 of 26 eyes (42.3%) achieved Among the three eyes that failed to
Discussion
qualified success and three of 26 eyes achieve IOP of 18 mmHg, one eye did, Failed filtering procedures are a pro-
(11.5%) did not achieve adequate control however, decrease IOP by 50% and one blem after glaucoma surgery. We
(Table 3, Fig. 1). eye decreased IOP by 18.5%. The third found needling procedures to be a
The survival rate after the initial failure eye had increasing IOP after very useful tool in this respect. The
needling was 64% at 6 months, and 6 months of follow-up and underwent technique is a relatively simple way of
the same after 1 year and 2 years. All another needling. This patient had sec- restoring a filtering bleb, with a fairly
the failures after the initial needling ondary glaucoma after penetrating ker- small degree of surgical trauma to the
were early failures (rising IOP within atoplasty. eye. In our material, 23 of 26 eyes
less than 1 month). The survival rate Only one patient showed a greater achieved success or qualified success,
after one or more needling revisions than two-line drop in visual acuity yielding a total success rate of 88.5%
was 96% at 6 months and 77% at after needling, due to developing bul- over a mean follow-up of 14.5 months.
1 year and 2 years (Fig. 2). lous keratopathy. We found a highly significant drop in
Table 4 shows the results in the Complications developed in six of IOP at the last follow-up after the need-
subgroups receiving either MMC, the 26 eyes (23.1%). There were corneal ling procedure.
5-FU or no antimetabolites. All 10 epithelial defects in three eyes (11.5%) Our overall rate of complete or qua-
eyes in the 5-FU group and all three and conjunctival wound leaks in two lified success is comparable to the
eyes needled without antimetabolites eyes (7.7%). These complications results of other authors. Ewing & Stam-
were successes or qualified successes. resolved spontaneously within a few per (1990) presented a retrospective
The MMC group of 13 had three days. However, one eye (3.8%) of a study including 12 eyes that underwent
(23.1%) failures. patient with CoganReese syndrome one to five needling revisions for a

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ACTA OPHTHALMOLOGICA SCANDINAVICA 2003

Table 2. Postoperative patient characteristics.

Eye Months No. of Doses of Doses of 5-FU 5-FU Post- Final Follow-up Final
between needle MMC 5-FU doses doses needling medication from last result
surgery revisions during during before after IOP at needle
and the needle needle Final final final revision
first revision revision needle needle follow-up (months)
needle revision revision
revision

1 12.00 1 1 0 0 2 8 0 48 S
2 6.00 10 10 0 8 0 22 3 36 F
3 1.50 13 7 6 3 0 17 0 12 S
4 5.00 1 1 0 1 2 12 0 24 S
5 1.00 1 1 0 3 4 15 2 30 QS
6 3.00 1 1 0 0 1 15 2 24 QS
7 1.25 2 1 1 0 0 14 0 24 S
8 1.50 1 0 0 0 1 10 3 24 QS
9 1.50 3 2 1 9 2 14 1 6 QS
10 0.50 1 1 0 5 3 16 1 6 QS
11 1.00 1 0 0 0 9 18 0 12 S
12 1.50 1 0 0 0 0 14 3 13 QS
13 0.25 1 0 1 0 6 14 0 9 S
14 0.75 3 0 2 2 3 10 0 6 S
15 0.25 4 4 0 6 4 20 3 24 F
16 2.75 1 0 1 7 0 16 2 6 QS
17 0.50 1 0 1 3 3 16 2 7 QS
18 0.50 1 0 1 0 6 13 0 6 S
19 1.00 1 0 1 1 5 18 1 10 QS
20 2.50 2 0 2 3 0 13 0 6 S
21 0.50 1 0 1 0 4 15 0 6 S
22 0.75 4 1 3 8 2 16 1 6 QS
23 1.00 1 0 1 2 1 7 0 6 S
24 1.00 2 2 0 2 11 13 1 7 QS
25 1.50 2 2 0 2 1 35 3 12 F
26 0.50 1 0 1 0 3 16 0 6 S
Mean SD 1.9 2.48 2.3 2.9 1.3 2.4 0.9 1.3 2.5 2.9 2.8 2.8 15.3 5.2 1.1 1.2 14.5 11.3

failed or failing filtering operation, Shin et al. (1993) reported the results went one to seven needling revisions
without the use of antimetabolites dur- of needling revision in a retrospective with adjunctive MMC, with a mean
ing the needling. Seven of the patients study including 30 eyes that underwent follow-up of 8.3 months from the last
(the most complicated) received post- from one to seven revisions with needling. The time between the last fil-
operative injections of 5-FU. All the adjunctive 5-FU. None of the eyes had tration surgery and needle revision ran-
12 eyes had at least some evidence of a an encapsulated bleb before the need- ged from 3 months to 46 years. They
bleb present before the needling, and the ling. The time between prior glaucoma reported an overall success rate of
last needling was performed from surgery and the first needling ranged 91.9%.
6 weeks to 35 years after prior glaucoma from 0.4 weeks to 216.1 weeks. The Our needling procedures are per-
surgery. The average follow-up period average follow-up period from the last formed with adjunctive use of MMC
in this study was 9 months. The needling revision was 49.9 weeks. Success was or 5-FU or without antimetabolites.
revision was successful in 11 of 12 eyes achieved in 24 of 30 eyes (80%). The choice between the three alterna-
(91.7%) and all seven eyes receiving Mardelli et al. (1996) reviewed the tives partly depended upon the experi-
postoperative 5-FU succeeded. results achieved in 62 eyes that under- ence of the surgeon and partly on the
nature of the glaucoma. Our study
included only three patients needled
Table 3. Number of earlier performed trabeculectomies and classification of results after one or without the use of antimetabolites. All
more needling revisions. three had undergone their first trabecu-
No. of earlier No. of patients No. of patients No. of patients No. of lectomies 4–6 weeks before the need-
trabeculectomies with success with qualified failures ling, and had open-angle glaucoma
success with diffuse or cystic blebs and pressure
rises up to 2038 mmHg before need-
1 17 9 7 1 ling. This is too small a sample to allow
2 3 0 3 0
for any firm conclusions even if there
3 6 3 1 2
were no failures among them, but need-
Success ¼ IOP 18 mmHg without medication; qualified success ¼ IOP 18 mmHg with medication; ling without antimetabolites is usually
failure ¼ IOP > 18 mmHg on medication. not considered very successful. Costa

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ACTA OPHTHALMOLOGICA SCANDINAVICA 2003

et al. (1997) reported a prospective,


randomized study comparing needling
revisions without antimetabolites and
medical treatment in eyes with encap-
sulated blebs after trabeculectomy with
MMC. Needling was performed in 14
eyes, with success in only 7.1% and
qualified success in 57.1%. Ewing et al.
(1990) could not demonstrate a statisti-
cally significant benefit from the use of
5-FU, but their clinical impression was
that it was advantageous.
Three patients who underwent sev-
eral needling procedures had their eyes
needled with MMC the first time and
later with 5-FU. We did this because we
Fig. 1. Comparison of pre-needling and post-needling IOP at last follow-up. started with great respect for and no
personal experience of subconjunctival
injections of MMC, while we knew 5-
FU from other types of treatment, such
as recurrent pterygea. As our results
were good, we sometimes used this
combination according to our clinical
estimation.
We tended to use MMC for the more
complicated glaucomas and after sev-
eral previous failed filtration surgery
procedures (Kitazawa et al. 1991;
Skuta et al. 1992; Katz et al. 1995).
In the groups receiving 5-FU or no
antimetabolites there were no failures.
The group receiving MMC included
23.1% failures. This result is probably
explained by the selection of the
patients to the different groups, as the
more complicated glaucoma eyes were
Fig. 2. Kaplan Meier survival plots of 26 eyes following a single needling revision versus 26 eyes needled with MMC, as is illustrated by
after one or more needling revisions. the three failure eyes, which all had
secondary glaucoma. Two of these
Table 4. Results of one or more needling revisions in the subgroups receiving MMC, 5-FU or no had undergone several filtration sur-
antimetabolites. gery procedures.
Our clinical experience is that need-
Antimetabolites No. of No. of No. of No. of Pre-needling Post-needling
ling with MMC is a valuable tool, espe-
used during eyes patients patients patients IOP (mmHg) IOP (mmHg)
needle with with with
cially in the management of the more
revision success qualified failure complicated glaucomas.
success As mentioned above, multiple need-
lings have been reported by several
MMC 13 4 6 3 30.5  6.8 16.7  6.5 authors. Two of the eyes in our study
5-FU 10 7 3 0 26.9  6.4 13.8  3.3 underwent needling more than four
None 3 1 2 0 27.7  9.3 14.0  4.0
times. One was a congenital glaucoma
eye in a child who had three trabeculec-
tomies before needling. She underwent
Table 5. Results of needling revision according to the type of filtering bleb. 13 needling procedures and finally
Bleb No. of No. of No. of
achieved success. The other eye
appearance patients patients failures belonged to a patient with Cogan
with with Reese syndrome who had undergone
success qualified seven earlier trabeculectomies. He
success underwent 10 needling procedures. He
was considered a bad candidate for
Flattened 6 6 2
Diffuse 0 3 0
other filtering surgery because of exten-
Cystic 6 2 1 sive conjunctival fibrosis. His eye was
classified as a failure. Implantation of a

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ACTA OPHTHALMOLOGICA SCANDINAVICA 2003

glaucoma drainage device might have ately on a larger number of patients. Ewing R & Stamper R (1990): Needle revision
been an alternative treatment for these Kapetansky & Kapetansky (1999) with and without 5-Fluorouracil for the
patients. showed that bleb needling is more treatment of failed filtering blebs. Am J
Ophthalmol 110: 254–259.
The complications after the needling effective when there still is a bleb
Fluorouracil Filtering Surgery Study Group
procedure were mainly transient and present. Their article evaluated the (1989): Fluorouracil filtering surgery study
tolerable and healed within less than a efficacy of MMC needling in 30 eyes one-year follow-up. Am J Ophthalmol 108:
week without sequelae. They were the that were classified into three different 625–635.
same as reported by other authors. groups according to bleb appearance. Kapetansky FM & Kapetansky SD (1999):
Ewing & Stamper (1990) reported They suggest that early bleb needling Antimetabolite use in revising failing filter-
few and manageable complications affords the best opportunity to success- ing blebs. Semin Ophthalmol 14: 144–151.
including corneal epithelial defects fully restore the function of a failing Katz GJ, Higginbotham EJ, Lichter PR,
Skuta GL, Musch DC, Bergstrom TJ &
(41.7%), hyphema and shallowing of bleb (Kapetansky & Kapetansky 1999). Johnson AT (1995): Mitomycin C versus
the anterior chamber (8.3%), conjunc- For patients with side-effects from 5-Fluorouracil in high risk glaucoma filtering
tival leaks from the needle entry topical medication, successful needling surgery. Extended follow-up. Ophthalmology
(16.7%) and an enlargement of a non- may even contribute to a better quality 102: 1263–1269.
functioning overhanging bleb after tra- of life. Kitazawa Y, Kawase K, Matsushita H & Min-
beculectomy (8.3%). Needling revision is most often per- obe N (1991): Trabeculectomy with Mitomy-
Shin et al. (1993) reported comp- formed as a clinic procedure. This cin. A comparative study with Fluorouracil.
Arch Ophthalmol 109: 1693–1698.
lications in six of 30 eyes (20%), makes it very time efficient for both
Mardelli P, Lederer CM, Murray PL, Pastor
including small hyphemas (6.7%), doctor and patient. The cost is lower SA & Hassanein KM (1996): Slit-lamp nee-
corneal epithelial defects (10%), and than for repeat filtering procedures. dle revision of failed filtering blebs using
conjunctival wound leaks and Compared to supplemental medication, Mitomyin C. Ophthalmology 103 (11):
shallow anterior chamber (3.3%). it will lead to more frequent clinic visits, 1946–1955.
All complications resolved sponta- and it requires a fully co-operative McDermott ML, Wang J & Shin DH (1994):
neously. patient. Mitomycin and the human corneal endothe-
Mardelli et al. (1996) reported serous Our study supports needling revision lium. Arch Ophthalmol 112: 533–537.
Pederson JE & Smith G (1985): Surgical man-
choroidal detachment (16.1%), bleb as a useful tool in the management of
agement of encapsulated filtering blebs.
leak (8.1%), hyphema (3.2%), iris glaucomas. Ophthalmology 92: 955–958.
blocking sclerostomy (3.2%), corneal Shin DH, Juzych MS, Khatana AK, Swendris
abrasion (3.2%) and hypotony (1.6%). RP & Parrow KA (1993): Needling revision
However, one of our patients devel- of failed filtering blebs with adjunctive 5-
oped bullous keratopathy. We believe
Acknowledgement Fluorouracil. Ophthalmic Surg 24: 242–248.
that this patient, who had undergone The authors would like to thank Harald Skuta GL, Beeson CC & Higginbotham EJ
seven earlier filtration operations, was Johnsen MD, PhD for statistical analysis. (1992): Intraoperative Mitomycin C versus
postoperative 5-Fluorouracil in high risk
at high risk of developing the same
glaucoma filtering surgery. Ophthalmology
complication if another surgical inter- 99: 440–444.
vention had been chosen (McDermott References Skuta GL & Parrish RK II (1987): Wound
et al. 1994; Katz et al. 1995; Burgoyne Azuara-Blanco A, Bond JB, Wilson RP, Mos- healing in glaucoma filtering surgery. Surv
et al. 2000). Compared to filtering ter MR & Schmidt CM (1997): Encapsulated Ophthalmol 32: 149–170.
surgery, the rate of complications filtering blebs after trabeculectomy with
after bleb needling seems to be low Mitomycin C. Ophthalmic Surg Lasers 28
(McDermott et al. 1994; Katz et al. (10): 805–809.
1995; De Bry et al. 2002). Burgoyne JK, Dunn WD, Lakhani W & Can-
Compared to other authors, we tor LB (2000): Outcomes of sequential tube
shunts in complicated glaucoma. Ophthal-
tended to perform needling revision Received on February 5th, 2003.
mology 107 (2): 309–314.
quite early after filtering operations. Chen P & Palmberg P (1997): Needling revi- Accepted on June 3rd, 2003.
Quite often, we chose needling instead sion of glaucoma drainage device filtering
of resumption of topical medication, blebs. Ophthalmology 104 (6): 1004–1010.
which makes patient compliance a Costa V, Correra M & Kara-Jose N (1997): Correspondence:
smaller problem. Because of this, we Needling versus medical treatment in encap- Marit Fagerli MD
have not been able to compare the sulated blebs. A randomized, prospective Department of Ophthalmology
need for antiglaucoma medication study. Ophthalmology 104 (8): 1215–1122. St. Olav University Hospital
De Bry PW, Perkins TW, Heatley G, N-7006 Trondheim
before and after needling procedures.
Kaufmann P & Brumback LC (2002): Norway
Our good results so far with early need- Incidence of late-onset bleb-related compli- Tel: þ 47 73 86 87 30
ling have led us to consider early cations following trabeculectomy with Fax: þ 47 73 86 87 65
needling as something to look at separ- Mitomycin. Arch Ophthalmol 120: 297–300. Email: marit.fagerli@stolav.no

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