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. 2022 Mar 2;15(1):31-35.
doi: 10.4103/ojo.ojo_412_20. eCollection 2022 Jan-Apr.

Can trainees perform Ahmed glaucoma valve surgery as effectively as attendings?

Melih Ustaoglu  1   2 , Hugh Huynh  3 , Sharmenie Esin  3 , Aakriti Garg Shukla  1 , Reza Razeghinejad  1
Affiliations

Can trainees perform Ahmed glaucoma valve surgery as effectively as attendings?

Melih Ustaoglu et al. Oman J Ophthalmol. .

Abstract

Objective: To compare the surgical outcomes and early postoperative complications of Ahmed glaucoma valve (AGV) implantation performed by residents with those performed by attending physicians.

Methods: This is a retrospective, case-control study. Data were gathered from chart reviews of consecutive cases of AGV model FP7 implantation between January 2014 and July 2017. Postoperative 1-year results of patients who had at least 3 months follow-up were evaluated.

Results: One hundred and forty-four eyes of 144 patients were included in this study: 72 patients in the resident group, and 72 age- and sex-matched patients in the attending group. Hyphema and shallow anterior chamber were significantly more common in the resident group vs. attending group (25% vs. 2.8% and 19.4% vs. 7.0%; P = 0.001 and P = 0.04, respectively). Neovascular glaucoma (NVG) was more common in resident vs. attending group (30.6% vs. 1.4%; P < 0.001). No significant difference in mean intraocular pressure (IOP) was found at any postoperative follow-up visits between the surgery groups (P > 0.05, for all). The number of postoperative visits within 3 months was similar between the groups (P = 0.84).

Conclusion: Resident-performed AGV surgery lowered IOP, similar to attending-performed surgery. More frequent complications were observed in the resident group, which might be due to the predominance of NVG in this group.

Keywords: Complications; glaucoma; glaucoma drainage device; resident; trainee.

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Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Visual acuity (a) and intraocular pressure (b) profile over time following Ahmed glaucoma valve surgery in the resident and attending groups
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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