Cataract Surgery Combined with Glaucoma Drainage Devices

Frequently, patients may develop both glaucoma and a cataract and the treatment of one possibly aids in the development of the other, as several studies have observed an increase in cataracts among patients using antiglaucoma medications. When medical management fails to adequately control a patient’s intraocular pressure (IOP) and the patient’s cataract becomes visually significant, the question arises as to how best to treat the patient surgically. A lack of consensus regarding the preferred surgical sequence for treating a patient with cataract and glaucoma led the American Academy of Ophthalmology to request a systematic literature review, which exhibited strong evidence for better intraocular pressure control after combined glaucoma and cataract surgery versus cataract surgery alone and weak evidence for better intraocular pressure control with trabeculectomy alone verses combined surgery.