PURPOSE: To report on the surgical outcome after at least 12 months of follow-up of mini-trabeculectomy (without radial incisions) as an initial surgery.

METHODS: In a prospective, institutional study, mini-trabeculectomy was performed as the initial surgical therapy on 41 eyes with medically uncontrolled glaucoma of 41 consecutive patients aged 40 years or older. Mini-trabeculectomy consists of a 3-mm fornix-based conjunctival flap, sclerostomy at 1 mm from the limbus, and a sclerocorneal tunnel without radial incisions. Of the 41 eyes, four eyes did not complete 12 months of follow-up. Of the remaining 37 eyes, one eye underwent cataract extraction 5 months postoperatively and was evaluated only for surgical complications. Thirty-six patients with a mean age of 70.3 ± 7.4 standard deviation years (range, 54 to 87) completed 12 months or more of follow-up.

RESULTS: In the 36 eyes, mean preoperative intraocular pressure was 30.2 ± 9.3 mm Hg (range, 19 to 54) with 3.0 ± 1.2 hypotensive medications (range, 1 to 4). After postoperative mean follow-up of 25.0 ± 9.2 months (range, 12 to 43), intraocular pressure was at or below the planned target intraocular pressure in 35 eyes (97.2%; P < .0001) and mean intraocular pressure was 16.0 ± 2.8 mm Hg (range, 11 to 21) with 0.8 ± 1.0 medications (range, 0 to 3). Postoperative complications in the 37 eyes included early postoperative aqueous leakage with moderately shallow or deep anterior chamber in two eyes (5.4%) and rapid cataract progression in one eye (2.7%). The four eyes that were excluded from the study had intraocular pressures of 10 to 16 mm Hg with 0 to 1 hypotensive medications, 3 to 9 months after surgery, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS: Mini-trabeculectomy, which may offer clinical and technical advantages over the standard trabeculectomy, was generally efficacious and relatively safe, based on outcome observed at a mean of 25 months follow-up. A controlled study is required to confirm these observations.