A case involving an Ahmed™ glaucoma valve transferred from the vitreous into the anterior chamber of the eye with a silicone oil tamponade for the treatment of neovascular glaucoma

Michiko Miki, Mari Ueki, Tetsuya Sugiyama, Shota Kojima, Tsunehiko Ikeda

Department of Ophthalmology, Osaka Medical College, Takatsuki, Japan

Purpose: To report the short-term efficacy and safety of the transfer of an Ahmed™ glaucoma valve (AGV™) tube from the vitreous into the anterior chamber, in a patient with neovascular glaucoma who had undergone pars plana AGV™ implantation and ultimately needed a silicone oil tamponade.
Case: A 41-year-old male with proliferative diabetic retinopathy in both eyes was referred to us for treatment in December 2009. Although the patient previously underwent several surgeries, he ultimately lost vision in his right eye. His left eye suffered from neovascular glaucoma after undergoing a pars plana vitrectomy for tractional retinal detachment. After several vitreous and glaucoma surgeries, the patient underwent implantation of a pars plana AGV™. Postoperatively, although his intraocular pressure was stabilized at approximately 10 mmHg, he had repeated vitreous hemorrhage and hyphema without improvement. He ultimately underwent PPV with a silicone oil tamponade and at the same time, the AGV™ tube was pulled out from the vitreous and inserted into the anterior chamber in order to avoid complications caused by the silicone oil.
Results: At 19 months postoperative, the patient’s intraocular pressure had stabilized at 10 mmHg with no recurrence of vitreous hemorrhage and hyphema. Eventually, he lost vision in his left eye because of cerebral hemorrhage.
Conclusion: The findings show that insertion of a pars plana AGV™ tube into the anterior chamber in a patient undergoing a silicone oil tamponade is both effective and safe in the short-term.

Keyword: tube implantation, glaucoma surgery, tube transfer, pars plana, proliferative diabetic retinopathy, intraocular pressure