Trend of glaucoma internal filtration surgeries in a tertiary hospital in China

AIM: To evaluate the trend of glaucoma internal filtration surgeries for inpatients between 2015 and 2021 at the Eye Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University. METHODS: A review of the medical records of inpatients who had been diagnosed with glaucoma and received anti-glaucoma surgery between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2021 was conducted. The glaucoma diagnosis in this study included primary open angle glaucoma, primary angle-closure glaucoma, secondary glaucoma, and paediatric glaucoma. The types of surgeries were categorised as internal filtration, external filtration, and cyclodestruction surgery based on the pathway of aqueous humor outflow. The trend of these glaucoma surgeries in the sample of patients with different types of glaucoma was then analysed. RESULTS: The number of patients hospitalised for glaucoma surgery increased yearly, from 752 in 2015 to 1373 in 2021, at the Eye Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University. Regarding the patients diagnosed with primary open angle glaucoma, internal filtration surgery increased from 27.40% of the sample to 54.40% of the sample, while external filtration surgery decreased from 71.50% to 44.20% between 2015 and 2021. For paediatric glaucoma, internal filtration surgery increased from 37.50% in 2015 to 88.20% in 2021. Whilst different types of surgeries were performed on the sample of patients with secondary glaucoma, the proportion of internal filtration surgery also showed an increase from 18.20% in 2015 to 40.90% in 2021. Meanwhile, internal filtration surgery in the patient sample with primary angle-closure glaucoma already accounted for over 70.00% in 2015, and showed a small increase by 2021. CONCLUSION: As surgical technology and surgical experience continue to elevate and improve, the range of glaucoma surgeries are correspondingly evolving. This study find that internal filtration surgeries accounted for an increasing proportion of treatments in the surgical management of glaucoma between 2015 and 2021.