The potential of a fixed combination of brimonidine and timolol in achieving safe intraocular pressure levels after micropulse laser cyclophotocoagulation

Abstract

PURPOSE. To evaluate the clinical effectiveness and safety of using a fixed combination — hypotensive drug Brimonidine Duo (brimonidine tartrate 2 mg/mL + timolol maleate 5 mg/mL) to reduce intraocular pressure in patients with advanced stages of primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) in cases when achieving target pressure failed after laser micropulse transcleral diode laser cyclophotocoagulation (mCPC).METHODS. MCPC was performed with individually chosen parameters in 100 patients (104 eyes) aged 35 to 86 with POAG, of them 54.17% were men and 45.83% were women. The follow-up period lasted 3 months, the results were evaluated on the 1st, 7th and 14th days, then after 1 and 3 months. In 23.08% of cases (24 patients) subjects were prescribed antihypertensive combination drug Brimayza Duo due to intraocular pressure (IOP) remaining uncompensated.RESULTS. The average IOP level after 7 days was 23.54± 4.8 mm Hg. After 3 months, IOP values were 18.11±2.04 mm Hg, which is 4–5 mm Hg lower than in the early postoperative period. After 30 days of follow-up, an additional antihypertensive drug Latanoprost 0.005% was added for 5 patients (20.83%). Repeated surgery was recommended and performed in 4 patients (16.67%), of which 1 patient underwent surgical intervention of the penetrating type, 3 patients underwent repeat mCPC with individually chosen parameters.CONCLUSION. MCPC is a safe and effective tool for reducing intraocular pressure in patients with advanced stages of POAG. The noninvasive nature of this technique makes it possible to speed up the recovery time after surgery, as well as reduce the number of postoperative complications. Among patients who failed to achieve target pressure after surgery, the use of Brimayza Duo was effective in 62.5% of cases.