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Prcis: Preserflo surgery is a safe procedure, effective in reducing intraocular pressure into the "low teens," surgical survival is greatest in cases of high baseline intraocular pressure (above 21 mm Hg) and when performed as a standalone procedure., Purpose: To evaluate midterm surgical survival and safety profile of Preserflo filtering surgery., Methods: In this retrospective, cohort study, consecutive patients who underwent standardized Preserflo implantation with mitomycin C from December 2019 to April 2021 were included. Clinical data were retrieved from patient charts. The primary outcome was surgical survival at 24 months in accordance with World Glaucoma Association guidelines. Survival was evaluated using Kaplan-Meier statistics. Analysis was performed at the eye level and as intention to treat., Results: Ninety-five eyes were included in this study (18 cases combined with cataract surgery). More than half of cases (n=51) were primary open angle glaucoma, with over a fifth having a prior filtering glaucoma procedure. Intraocular pressure at 24 months was significantly decreased from baseline (22.4±6.28 vs. 12.0±3.43 mm Hg), as well as the need for IOP-lowering medication [2.88 (±0.92) vs. 0.79 (±1.3), P <0.001 all comparisons]. Standalone Preserflo achieved a qualified survival (irrespective of medication) of 71% (95% CI, 62%-83%) and 44% (95% CI, 27%-75%) in the combined procedure subgroup ( P <0.05 when considering absolute survival). Eyes with baseline intraocular pressure ≥21 mm Hg showed a greater qualified survival when compared with eyes with baseline ≤18 mm Hg [80% (95% CI, 65%-100%) vs. 50% (95% CI, 32%-76%); P <0.05]. Intra and early operative complications were few, self-limited, and did not require surgical management. The reoperation rate was low (18%)., Conclusions: Preserflo filtering surgery was effective in reducing intraocular pressure into the "low teens" and presents an adequate surgical survival and safety profile. Surgical survival appeared greatest when performed as standalone and when preoperative intraocular pressure was high., (Copyright © 2024 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Prcis: In reducing intraocular pressure (IOP), Paul (PGI) and Baerveldt (BGI) glaucoma implants are safe and effective in patients with glaucoma., Objective: To compare efficacy and safety profiles of the PGI and BGI in the treatment of medically uncontrolled glaucoma at 1 year of follow-up., Methods: Retrospective analysis of patients implanted with a PGI or BGI with a minimum of 12 months follow-up. The primary outcome was surgical success defined as IOP ≥6 and ≤18 mm Hg and at least 20% IOP reduction from baseline. Secondary outcomes included IOP measurements, number of medications, and complications., Results: Twenty-three patients implanted with PGI and 27 with BGI were included. At last visit (12 mo), mean IOP had decreased from 23.7 ± 6.9 to 0.1 ± 2.9 mm Hg in the PGI group versus 26 ± 7.3 to 10.4 ± 4.9 mm Hg with the BGI ( P < 0.001 for both comparisons). Overall qualified success rates were similar between groups (PGI 91% vs BGI 89%, P = 0.784). IOP was significantly lower in the PGI at week 1 and month 1 of follow-up versus the BGI (13.6 ± 6.1 vs 20.1 ± 7.4; 14.6±3.8 vs 21.2 ± 5.8 mm Hg; P < 0.002 for both) with a lower number of medications (1.57 ± 1.47 vs 2.52 ± 1.16 at mo 1, P = 0.015). Most complications were minor and similar in both groups., Conclusion: Both PGI and BGI are safe and effective in reducing IOP in patients with glaucoma, with similar success rates., Competing Interests: Disclosure: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Uveitis is a heterogeneous collection of infrequent diseases, which poses significant challenges to cost-effective research in the field. Medical registries are being increasingly recognized as crucial tools to provide high-quality data, thus enabling prospective clinical research. This paper describes the design and technical structure development of an innovative countrywide electronic medical record for uveitis, Uveite.pt, and gives an overview of the cohort registered since its foundation, March 2020.Uveite.pt is an electronic medical record platform developed by the Portuguese Ocular Inflammation Group (POIG), a scientific committee of the Portuguese Ophthalmology Society. This is a nationwide customized web-based platform for uveitis patients useful for both clinical practice and real-world-based research, working as a central repository and reporting tool for uveitis. This paper describes the technical principles, the design and the development of a web-based interoperable registry for uveitis in Portugal and provides an overview of more than 400 patients registered in the first 18 months since inception.In infrequent diseases, the existence of registries enables to gather evidence and increase research possibilities to clinicians. The adoption of this platform enables standardization and improvement of clinical practice in uveitis. It is useful to apprehend the repercussion of medical and surgical treatments in uveitis and scleritis, supporting clinicians in the strict monitoring of drug adverse reactions and surgical outcomes.

Purpose of Review: To address the current role of artificial intelligence (AI) in the field of glaucoma., Recent Findings: Current deep learning (DL) models concerning glaucoma diagnosis have shown consistently improving diagnostic capabilities, primarily based on color fundus photography and optical coherence tomography, but also with multimodal strategies. Recent models have also suggested that AI may be helpful in detecting and estimating visual field progression from different input data. Moreover, with the emergence of newer DL architectures and synthetic data, challenges such as model generalizability and explainability have begun to be tackled., Summary: While some challenges remain before AI is routinely employed in clinical practice, new research has expanded the range in which it can be used in the context of glaucoma management and underlined the relevance of this research avenue., (Copyright © 2023 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: To evaluate bleb morphology features of different glaucoma drainage devices (GDD) using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)., Materials and Methods: Prospective cohort study of GDD and bleb morphology in consecutive glaucoma patients implanted with Ahmed Glaucoma Valve (AGV), Paul Glaucoma Implant (PGI), Baerveldt Glaucoma Implant (BGI) and Ahmed ClearPath (ACP) devices. Thirty-six eyes from 30 consecutive patients underwent standardized GDD implantation followed by MRI at least 1 month after surgery. Main outcomes included bleb volume and endplate position relative to the optic nerve. Secondary outcomes included intraocular pressure (IOP), medication and surgical complications during a 12-month follow-up., Results: Seven eyes were implanted with the AGV (19%), 5 with BGI (14%), 16 with PGI (44%) and 8 with ACP (22%). MRI scans were obtained 85 ± 66 days after surgery. Mean total bleb volume was 563 ± 390 mm 3 . This bleb volume was inversely correlated with early post-operative IOP (day 7; r s  = -0.3326, p = 0.0475) but positively correlated with IOP at 12 months (r s  = 0.3592, p = 0.0341). No significant difference in total bleb volume was found between GDD types (p = 0.1223). A double-layered bleb was observed in 34 eyes (94%). The inferior bleb volume was significantly larger in PGI devices versus other GDD types (380 ± 205 vs. 193 ± 161 mm 3 ; p = 0.0043). Distance from the endplate to the optic nerve was 9.5 ± 4.0 mm, similar across GDDs (p = 0.2519)., Conclusions: Double-layered blebs are a common finding with GDDs. Bleb volume showed different correlations with IOP at distinct timepoints and the PGI device formed larger blebs. A standardized GDD implantation technique ensures a safe distance from the GDD endplate to the optic nerve., (© 2023 The Authors. Acta Ophthalmologica published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Acta Ophthalmologica Scandinavica Foundation.)

Purpose: Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is a rare inherited disease affecting collagen-rich tissues. Ocular complications have been reported such as thin corneas, low ocular rigidity, keratoconus, among others. The purpose of this study is to characterize corneal tomographic features in OI patients compared to unaffected patients, with particular focus on commonly studied keratoconus indices., Methods: Cross-sectional case-control study including 37 OI patients and 37 age-matched controls. Patients and controls underwent comprehensive ophthalmological examination including corneal Scheimpflug tomography with a Pentacam HR device (Oculus Optikgeräte GmbH, Wetzlar, Germany) to analyse and compare topometric, tomographic, pachymetric and Belin-Ambrósio Enhanced Ectasia Display III (BAD-D) data of both eyes of each patient., Results: Most OI patients had type I disease (n = 24; 65%) but type III-VII patients were also included. Two patients had clinically overt bilateral keratoconus. OI patients had significantly higher maximum keratometry (45.2 ± 2.1 vs. 43.7 ± 1.2; p = 0.0416), front and back elevation (3.0 ± 3.3 vs. 2.1 ± 1.3, p = 0.0201; 11.1 ± 8.2 vs. 5.0 ± 3.7, p < 0.0001), index of surface variance (25.5 ± 13 vs. 17.4 ± 8.3; p = 0.0016), index of vertical asymmetry (0.21 ± 0.14 vs. 0.15 ± 0.06; p = 0.0215), index of height asymmetry (9.2 ± 14 vs. 6.0 ± 4.5; p = 0.0421), index of height decentration (0.02 ± 0.01 vs. 0.01 ± 0.01; p < 0.0001) and average pachymetric progression (1.01 ± 0.19 vs. 0.88 ± 0.14; p < 0.0001) readings. Thinnest corneal thickness and maximum Ambrósio relational thickness were significantly lower (477 ± 52 vs. 543 ± 26; 387 ± 95 vs. 509 ± 49; p < 0.0001). Two-thirds of OI patients had corneas with a minimum thickness < 500 µm. BAD-D value was significantly higher in OI patients (2.1 ± 1.4 vs. 0.9 ± 0.2; p < 0.0001)., Conclusion: OI patients showed significant changes in corneal profiles compared with healthy subjects. A high proportion of patients had tomographically suspect corneas when using keratoconus diagnostic indices. Further studies are warranted to assess the true risk of corneal ectasia in OI patients., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Purpose: To compare outcomes of primary trabeculectomy using either mitomycin C (MMC) alone versus MMC augmented with intracamerular bevacizumab in patients with open-angle glaucoma., Methods: Retrospective, cohort, two-centre, comparative study. Patients' data were screened between October 2015 and March 2019, with inclusion requiring a minimum follow-up of 24 months. Primary outcome was intraocular pressure (IOP) lowering at 24 months, with surgical success defined with different maximum IOP targets (≤18, ≤16 and ≤14 mm Hg) and at least 30% reduction and higher than 5 mm Hg. Absolute success was achieved if no IOP-lowering medication was needed and a qualified success if otherwise. Safety outcomes were analysed., Results: A total of 110 eyes underwent trabeculectomy with MMC, 51 of these combined with intracamerular bevacizumab. Both strategies were effective in terms of IOP lowering (baseline vs 2 years postoperatively: 24.4 (8.0) mm Hg vs 12.1 (5.3) mm Hg in the MMC group; 25.1 (8.7) vs 10.8 (3.8) mm Hg in the MMC+bevacizumab group; p<0.001 in both comparisons). The MMC+bevacizumab group had a significant difference towards higher efficacy on absolute success rates at all targets (IOP≤14 or ≤16 or ≤18 mm Hg; p=0.010, p=0.039 and p=0.007, respectively). The large majority (93%) of the MMC+bevacizumab group was drop-free at 24 months, and 41% had IOP below 10 mm Hg. Complication rates were low and similar between groups, with no systemic adverse events., Conclusions: Intracamerular bevacizumab in MMC-augmented primary trabeculectomy increases the chances of obtaining low IOP outcomes. This strategy may be useful when planning for surgeries aiming at target pressures in the low teens., Trial Registration Number: ISRCTN93098069., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Prcis: Automated gonioscopy is a recent method of recording angle pictures. Our study shows that agreement between observers is moderate in most categories used in clinical practice, underlying its clinical usefulness but also room for improvement., Introduction: Iridocorneal angle (ICA) imaging methods have been recently developed to record gonioscopic images. The purpose of this study was to perform an interrater agreement analysis of ICA photographs., Methods: Multicentric cross-sectional observational study. Consecutive patients in 2 ophthalmology departments underwent automated gonioscopy. One picture per quadrant from each eye was selected for randomization. Pictures were graded and analyzed by 4 masked glaucoma specialists regarding angle opening, width, Shaffer and Spaeth gradings and other findings. Fleiss' κ statistics was performed to assess interrater agreement., Results: A total of 50 patients were recruited, with the sample containing a variety of diagnosis including pseudoexfoliation (22%), angle-closure suspect (12%), and pigmentary glaucoma (4%). The sample included phakic (68%) and pseudophakic patients, as well as cases with gonio-implanted surgical devices (10%). There was moderate agreement on angle opening, angle width, presence of angle vessels, and peripheral anterior synechiae (κ=0.435, 0.511, 0.558, 0.488, respectively; P<0.01). Fair agreement was observed regarding Shaffer grading, site of iris root insertion, angle pigmentation features, and the presence of iris processes. Expectedly from a 2-dimensional picture, the configuration of peripheral iris was found to have a poor agreement. Subset analysis on higher quality pictures seemed to improve agreement on pigment but did not further improve on the overall good agreement on angle opening status., Conclusions: Our study shows that automated gonioscopy provides moderate agreement on most clinically relevant features. Binary characteristics such as angle opening or PAS seem to be more robust than more complex angle classification parameters., Competing Interests: Disclosure: L.A.P. is a consultant for NIDEK Co. but no funding or fees were received as part of this study. The remaining authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: The Baerveldt-XEN technique is intended to reduce the risk of early hypotony after Baerveldt implant, while keeping a good long-term intra-ocular pressure (IOP) control. The aim of this study is to discuss the surgical success rate of the Baerveldt-XEN and compare it with the commercially available flow-restrictor device (Ahmed glaucoma valve - AGV)., Methods: Single-centre, cohort study. Consecutive glaucoma patients with uncontrolled IOP > 21 mmHg on maximum tolerated medical therapy, and who had an aqueous shunt as the planned surgical procedure. Patients underwent implantation of Baerveldt-XEN. An age-, gender- and glaucoma aetiology-matched database of AGV patients was used for comparison. Complete surgical success was defined as a final IOP between 6 and 21 mmHg, and 20% reduction from baseline with no need for IOP-lowering medication. Qualified success was the same criteria but resorting to medications., Results: Twenty-four eyes from 24 subjects with glaucoma were included in this study, 12 patients underwent Baerveldt-XEN implantation and 12 AGV. Twelve months after the Baerveldt-XEN implant, the IOP reduced from 33 ± 9 mmHg to 14 ± 3 mmHg (p < 0.001). The qualified and complete success rate was 50% and 25%, respectively. With the AGV, the IOP reduced from 29 ± 7 mmHg to 16 ± 7 mmHg (p = 0.001). The matched AGV group compared to the Baerveldt-XEN, presented a higher complete success rate (58.3%) and a qualified success rate of 33.3% (p = 0.72). No sight-threatening complications were recorded in both groups., Conclusions: The Baerveldt-XEN disclosed a low complete success rate at 1 year of follow-up, although with no major safety concerns. While studies with a longer follow-up are needed to demonstrate the potential advantages and disadvantages of the Baerveldt-XEN, this technique may be less likely to achieve drop-free efficacy when compared to other flow-restrictor strategies., (© 2020 Acta Ophthalmologica Scandinavica Foundation. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)