Clinical implication of recent randomized control trial in primary angle-closure disease management

Abstract

Blindness due to primary angle-closure glaucoma (PACG) can be reduced significantly if the ongoing angle-closure process is arrested at an early stage. Various treatments such as laser peripheral iridotomy (LPI), iridoplasty, and clear lens extraction (CLE) have been advocated as first-line therapy for primary angle-closure (PAC), PACG, and high-risk cases of primary angle-closure suspect (PACS). EAGLE study, propagated the effectiveness of CLE over LPI for the management of primary angle closure and have sparked controversy regarding the role of LPI as a first line procedure. Randomized controlled trials (RCT), systematic reviews, and meta-analyses of RCTs done on the same question provide us with a solid base for creating guidelines/modules for our day-to-day clinical practice. A systematic review was conducted, searching several databases, including PubMed, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, and ClinicalTrials.gov, for the last 16 years (January 2005-December 2021) for RCTs with data published related to primary angle-closure disease (PACD). The search strategy included the following terms: "Primary Angle Closure disease," "Primary Angle Closure Glaucoma," "Primary Angle Closure," "Primary Angle Closure Suspect," "clear lens extraction," "laser iridotomy," "laser peripheral iridotomy," "argon laser peripheral iridoplasty," "selective laser trabeculoplasty," "trabeculectomy," "randomized control trial," and "meta-analysis of randomized control trial." In this review, we will discuss recently published RCTs (within the last 16 years) for the management of PACD and their clinical implications in day-to-day practice.

Keywords: Acute angle closure; clear lens extraction; laser iridotomy; primary angle-closure disease (PACD); randomized control trial.