Outcomes of Trabeculectomy with 5-Fluorouracil at a Nigerian Tertiary Hospital

Purpose: to report the outcomes of trabeculectomy with adjunctive 5-fluorouracil (5- fu) at a nigerian tertiary hospital. methods: in this prospective study, all patients with glaucoma undergoing trabeculectomy with 5-fu at the university college hospital, ibadan, nigeria, from june 2009 to may 2010 were enrolled. each patient had a complete ophthalmic evaluation. intraocular pressure (iop), visual acuity (va) and complications post-trabeculectomy were assessed at one year. success of the procedure was defined as complete when no additional medications were required to achieve an iop of ≤18mmhg, or qualified when additional medications were required to achieve the same goal. results: a total of 47 eyes of 31 patients with mean age of 48.9±19.6 (range 14-77; median 52) years including 21 (67.7%) male subjects underwent trabeculectomy with 5-fu. mean presenting iop was 31.8±12.2 mmhg. mean deviation (md) on humphrey visual fields was -15.9±9.7db with the majority of the patients (18 subjects 58.1%) presenting with advanced glaucoma based on md worse than -12db and severe glaucomatous optic neuropathy (cup to disc ratio of 0.9-1.0). at 1 year postoperatively, 95.1% achieved qualified success while 83% had complete success. conclusion: this prospective study adds to the existing knowledge that trabeculectomy with 5-fu is effective at controlling iop in nigerian patients.