Brinzolamide-brimonidine fixed combination for the prevention of intraocular pressure elevation after phacoemulsification

Prophylaxis against intraocular pressure spikes following uncomplicated phacoemulsification: a systematic-review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

To investigate the effect of perioperative intraocular pressure (IOP) lowering medications on controlling postoperative IOP following uncomplicated phacoemulsification.

METHODS

Ovid MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane CENTRAL databases were searched up until November 2022. Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) that assessed IOP change via applanation tonometry in medicated and control arms following uncomplicated cataract surgery in healthy eyes were included. The primary outcome was the weighted mean difference (WMD) of IOP at 2-8 h, 12-24 h, and 1-7 days postoperatively within each medication class or common fixed-combination formulations. Risk of bias was assessed using the revised risk of bias in randomised trials (RoB-2). Level of evidence was rated using the Grading of Recommendation, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) RESULTS: From 702 screened articles, 30 RCTs involving 2986 eyes were included. There was a statistically significant reduction in IOP favouring treatment arms at 2-8 h (WMD = -3.87 mmHg; 95% CI [-4.75, -3.00]; p < 0.001) and 12-24 h (WMD = -2.69 mmHg; 95% CI [-3.36, -2.02]; p < 0.001), with the effect wearing off beyond 1 day (p = 0.18). Between medication classes, the largest effect at both 2-8 h and 12-24 h was observed with intracameral cholinergics or fixed-combination carbonic anhydrase inhibitor-beta-blocker (FCCB) formulations. Conversely, the smallest effect was observed with prostaglandin analogues, alpha-agonists, and topical carbonic anhydrase inhibitors (CAIs).

CONCLUSION

Prophylaxis against acute IOP elevations following uncomplicated cataract surgery is effective. FCCB and intracameral cholinergics are the most effective ocular antihypertensive agents, while alpha-agonists, prostaglandin analogues, and topical CAIs were found to be the least effective. These findings may inform future surgical guidelines.

Topical Medication Therapy for Glaucoma and Ocular Hypertension

Glaucoma is one of the most common causes of blindness, thus seriously affecting people’s health and quality of life. The topical medical therapy is as the first line treatment in the management of glaucoma since it is inexpensive, convenient, effective, and safe. This review summarizes and compares extensive clinical trials on the topical medications for the treatment of glaucoma, including topical monotherapy agents, topical fixed-combination agents, topical non-fixed combination agents, and their composition, mechanism of action, efficacy, and adverse effects, which will provide reference for optimal choice of clinical medication. Fixed-combination therapeutics offer greater efficacy, reliable security, clinical compliance, and tolerance than non-fixed combination agents and monotherapy agents, which will become a prefer option for the treatment of glaucoma. Meanwhile, we also discuss new trends in the field of new fixed combinations of medications, which may better control IOP and treat glaucoma.

Prophylactic treatment of intraocular pressure elevation after uncomplicated cataract surgery in nonglaucomatous eyes - a systematic review

The purpose of this systematic review was to evaluate the literature regarding prophylactic treatment of intraocular pressure (IOP) elevation after uncomplicated cataract surgery to provide an evidence-based guideline for cataract surgeons. The relevant literature was identified in EMBASE and PubMed. The risk of bias was assessed according to the 'Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions' and the ROBINS-I tool. The Grading of Recommendation, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) criteria were used to rate the quality of evidence, and relevant data were systematically extracted to evaluate the pressure-lowering effect of the active substances. The primary outcomes for this systematic review were the absolute and relative pressure-lowering effect of the different drugs after 3-8 hr and 1 day after surgery. In total, 23 randomized controlled trials and one nonrandomized controlled study consisting of 45 treatment arms with 14 different active substances were included in the qualitative synthesis. According to the GRADE criteria, nine trials were graded as 'high' quality of evidence, 12 trials as 'moderate', while three trials were given the grade 'low' quality of evidence. The primary outcomes showed most consistency between the trials, which studied the effect of timolol, and presented a relative effect from 18.6% to 29.6% at 3-8 hr and 9.8% to 23.6% at day 1. This systematic review indicates that timolol, latanoprost and travoprost alone or medications containing timolol as an additive active substance, such as dorzolamide + timolol, brinzolamide + timolol and brimonidine + timolol, are characterized by a good relative IOP-lowering effect, which can be gained by a single dose postoperatively.