Version 1
: Received: 25 December 2021 / Approved: 30 December 2021 / Online: 30 December 2021 (17:09:06 CET)
How to cite:
Dub, N.; Golaszewska, K.; Saeed, E.; Dmuchowska, D. A.; Obuchowska, I.; Konopińska, J. Changes to Glaucoma Surgery Patterns during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Shift Toward Less Invasive Procedures. Preprints2021, 2021120491. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202112.0491.v1
Dub, N.; Golaszewska, K.; Saeed, E.; Dmuchowska, D. A.; Obuchowska, I.; Konopińska, J. Changes to Glaucoma Surgery Patterns during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Shift Toward Less Invasive Procedures. Preprints 2021, 2021120491. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202112.0491.v1
Dub, N.; Golaszewska, K.; Saeed, E.; Dmuchowska, D. A.; Obuchowska, I.; Konopińska, J. Changes to Glaucoma Surgery Patterns during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Shift Toward Less Invasive Procedures. Preprints2021, 2021120491. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202112.0491.v1
APA Style
Dub, N., Golaszewska, K., Saeed, E., Dmuchowska, D. A., Obuchowska, I., & Konopińska, J. (2021). Changes to Glaucoma Surgery Patterns during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Shift Toward Less Invasive Procedures. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202112.0491.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Dub, N., Iwona Obuchowska and Joanna Konopińska. 2021 "Changes to Glaucoma Surgery Patterns during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Shift Toward Less Invasive Procedures" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202112.0491.v1
Abstract
Glaucoma is a leading cause of blindness. Surgical and pharmacological treatment of glaucoma aims to lower the intraocular pressure (IOP) and preserve visual function. The severe acute res-piratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic has placed a strain on the healthcare system. We aimed to compare the quantity, type of anti-glaucoma surgeries, and the disease stage before and during the coronavirus disease pandemic. We analyzed 362 eyes of 306 patients and 172 eyes of 149 patients from the pre-pandemic and pandemic groups, respectively. The number of an-ti-glaucoma surgeries was halved during the pandemic compared to a similar pre-pandemic pe-riod, with a significant difference in the procedural structures between the two groups (p<0.001). The most common procedures in the pre-pandemic group were Ex-Press implantation (33.7%) and trabeculectomy (31.5%). Within the pandemic group, half of the eyes underwent tra-beculectomy (50.0%), followed by Preserflo microshunt (11.6%). A significant difference in the average IOPs was revealed among patients who qualified for surgery 22.21 ± 7.83 mmHg in the pre-pandemic group and 25.16 ± 9.48 mmHg in the pandemic group; p<0.001). There was no significant difference in the best corrected visual acuity between the groups (p=0.263). Glaucoma treatment remained relatively accessible during the pandemic.
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.