DRAINAGE SURGERY IN GLAUCOMA TREATMENT: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE (LITERATURE REVIEW)

Abstract

Currently, glaucoma continues to occupy one of the leading places among the causes of irreversible blindness, loss of ability to work and disability, thereby acquiring special social significance. At the same time, the trend of increasing incidence is global.

Despite the entire arsenal of drug therapy and the improvement of antiglaucoma surgery methods, the search, development and implementation of new technologies that can provide a higher safety profile combined with maximum efficiency continue to arouse increased interest of ophthalmic surgeons.

We analyzed relevant available publications for a 131-year period on the issue of modern methods of surgical treatment of glaucoma. This review is devoted to the topic of drainage devices widely used in clinical practice for glaucoma. Particular attention is paid to the actively developing technologies of drainage antiglaucoma surgery in the last decade as an alternative to traditional treatment for initial and advanced forms of glaucoma. The article considers the history of the use of drains, their classification, characteristics of models and methods of their implantation. The presented results of clinical studies on various aspects of the application of surgical methods using drainage devices not only clearly demonstrate their compliance with modern concepts in the treatment of glaucoma, but also dictate the expediency of expanding the indications for their use. There is no doubt that further research is needed for more advanced, pathogenetically substantiated technologies in order to minimize surgical trauma and achieve a stable hypotensive effect. However, we can confidently say that drainage surgery already today occupies a worthy place in the algorithm of modern glaucoma treatment.