American Glaucoma Society Position Paper: Microinvasive Glaucoma Surgery

Abstract

In 2018, the American Glaucoma Society (AGS), the world’s largest professional society of glaucoma subspecialists, convened a 12-member task force of experts to craft a position statement about microinvasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS). The main objective of this position statement is to provide a succinct overview of these procedures and to address some misconceptions about MIGS. The members of the task force were selected by the AGS Board of Directors and include AGS members with expertise in developing MIGS, teaching MIGS, performing research on use and outcomes of these procedures, and working with the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other regulatory agencies about developing criteria to evaluate the efficacy and safety of these devices. Each of the sections of the position statement was prepared by subgroups of the task force, and then the material from the various sections was aggregated, and the leader of the task force (J.D.S.) merged the material into a cohesive draft. This draft was shared with the AGS Executive Committee and other members of the AGS Board of Directors for additional input.

Figure 1.

Flowchart showing different types of microinvasive and traditional glaucoma surgical options along with their respective Current Procedure Terminology billing codes. These codes are accurate as of January 2020 but may be subject to change. #Withdrawn from market. *Not approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration. ABic = ab interno canaloplasty; GATT = gonioscopy-assisted transluminal trabeculotomy; TM = trabecular meshwork.