New noninvasive technology shows positive safety and efficacy for the treatment of open angle glaucoma

Zoltan Nagy, MD, discusses a brand new technology to treat open angle glaucoma.

This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.

This is the femto laser-assisted trabeculotomy. This is a brand new technology and it's an OCD-guided, non-invasive technology for glaucoma treatment.

We treated about 19 patients so far, and the results are very promising regarding safety and efficacy. We were able to decrease the intraocular pressure (IOP) by 35% during the 12 month follow-up time.

Most of the patients had at least 20% decrease in IOP and some even more. We also have two year's data, which we will present a little bit later, they are also very promising.

To date, the clinical efficacy shows perfect results. The safety is also very good regarding this new technology.

This treatment has the potential to alter or to change glaucoma treatment and is a non-invasive treatment. So far we had the trabeculectomy which is an external surgical treatment. And the principle of the treatment is very similar, but with an OCD-guided system, we are able to deliver the femtosecond laser beam into the eye without opening the globe. I think this is very important for the patient.

The other important thing [is] we treated patients who were on conservative treatment by anti-glaucoma drugs before and we were able to decrease this drop in most of the patients. ... It's about a 35% decrease in this patient group, which I think is a very important result.

The technology is a photo disruptive technology operated by femtosecond laser and no other laser. And this is a brand new technology in glaucoma treatment. It operates with an automated OCD system, and we've been able to show these trabeculotomy places with the OCT imaging one day and 12 months after the treatment There was no change, no other histological changes and no scarring effect. This is very important, because then we could prove by this imaging that the channel which we created -- this is about 500 times 200 times micrometer quadrangle open also at the end of the 12 postoperative month.

It's a single channel treatment, but multiple channels are possible to create according to the needs of the glaucoma patients. With the imaging system, we can look 360 degrees around the trabecular meshwork and the angle and you can put the incision wherever you would like. It's important to put it where the angle is really open. And there are some pigmentation to have the effect which we would like to have.

One more which we should emphasize [is] that it's a non-penetrate treatment so we don't have to open the globe. I think this is also a very important issue for the patients as well as doctors.