Patterned Laser Trabeculoplasty

Abstract

Patterned laser trabeculoplasty provides rapid, precise, and minimally traumatic (sub-visible) computer-guided treatment with exact abutment of the patterns, exhibiting a 24% reduction in intraocular pressure during 6 months of follow-up (P < .01).

Morphologic Changes in Trabecular Meshwork after Patterned and Argon Laser Trabeculoplasty in Cats

“…The single clinical study for PLT reported 24% average IOP reduction during 6 months of followup. 16 Widening of inter-trabecular spaces could account for this IOP reduction although the exact mechanism has not been determined. However, the study also reported a success rate at 6 months after the PLT treatment was 60% and one retreated case returned to the baseline IOP at 5 months.…”

“…The laser was applied in the predetermined pattern of 66 spots comprised of three arcs of 100 mm-sized spots using 5 ms of automatically reduced pulse duration. 16 This procedure was repeated to cover 360 degrees of the trabecular meshwork, taking care not to duplicate the spot pattern. Two cats were sacrificed by placing them in a carbon dioxide chamber at each of three time points (1, 4 and 9 weeks) following laser treatment for light microscopy (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) One untreated cat served as the control and this cat was sacrificed in the same manner at 9 weeks.…”

“…16 In addition, PLT may have the potential benefit of reducing thermal tissue damage because it uses relatively short pulse duration (5 ms). 16 Nevertheless, there are concerns about thermal tissue damage and subsequent scarring of the trabecular meshwork by PLT. To our knowledge, there has been no report for the morphologic changes of trabecular meshwork after PLT.…”

“…[10][11][12][13][14][15] In particular, patterned laser trabeculoplasty (PLT) was recently introduced. 16 This technique has the advantage of providing uniform coverage of the trabecular meshwork with large number of exposures using the pattern scanning system of PASCAL. 16 In addition, PLT may have the potential benefit of reducing thermal tissue damage because it uses relatively short pulse duration (5 ms).…”

“…16 This technique has the advantage of providing uniform coverage of the trabecular meshwork with large number of exposures using the pattern scanning system of PASCAL. 16 In addition, PLT may have the potential benefit of reducing thermal tissue damage because it uses relatively short pulse duration (5 ms). 16 Nevertheless, there are concerns about thermal tissue damage and subsequent scarring of the trabecular meshwork by PLT.…”