Refusal of Trabeculectomy for the Fellow Eye in Collaborative Initial Glaucoma Treatment Study (CIGTS) Participants

PurposeTo understand the reasons for refusal of fellow eye surgical treatment for glaucoma after first eye trabeculectomy.DesignPost hoc analysis of data collected in a multicenter, randomized clinical trial.MethodsData from participants in the Collaborative Initial Glaucoma Treatment Study (CIGTS) who were randomized to and underwent initial trabeculectomy on their study eye, and whose fellow eye was eligible for surgical treatment, were analyzed. Participant demographic data and characteristics, surgical data from the study eye, and quality-of-life survey results were compared between groups that received or refused trabeculectomy in their fellow eye. The main outcome measure was patient refusal of fellow eye surgery for glaucoma.ResultsOf 159 participants who were randomized to and underwent trabeculectomy on their study eye and had a fellow eye that was eligible for surgery, 30 (19%) refused fellow eye surgery. Eligible patients who refused fellow eye trabeculectomy did not differ significantly in visual function or local eye symptoms from those that underwent fellow eye trabeculectomy (all P > .05). In a multivariable analysis of data, increased fellow eye preoperative intraocular pressure (IOP) was associated with decreased odds (OR = 0.89, P = .0188), study eye hypotony at 3 months postoperatively was associated with increased odds (OR = 7.24, P = .0125), and argon suture lysis procedure was associated with decreased odds (OR = 0.38, P = .0385) of surgery refusal.ConclusionsRefusal of fellow eye surgery was not uncommonly encountered in the CIGTS. Those who refused fellow eye surgery had lower fellow eye IOP and were more likely to have had hypotony after study eye trabeculectomy.