European Glaucoma Society – A guide on surgical innovation for glaucoma

Abstract

Prologue Glaucoma surgery has been, for many decades now, dominated by the universal gold standard which is trabeculectomy augmented with antimetabolites. Tubes also came into the scene to complement what we use to call conventional or traditional glaucoma surgery. More recently we experienced a changing glaucoma surgery environment with the “advent” of what we have become used to calling Minimally Invasive Glaucoma Surgery (MIGS). What is the unmet need, what is the gap that these newcomers aim to fill? Hippocrates taught us “bring benefit, not harm” and new glaucoma techniques and devices aim to provide safer surgery compared to conventional surgery. For the patient, but also for the clinician, safety is important. Is more safety achieved with new glaucoma surgery and, if so, is it associated with better, equivalent, or worse efficacy? Is new glaucoma surgery intended to replace conventional surgery or to complement it as an ‘add-on’ to what clinicians already have in their hands to manage glaucoma? Which surgery should be chosen for which patient? What are the options? Are they equivalent? These are too many questions for the clinician! What are the answers to the questions? What is the evidence to support answers? Do we need more evidence and how can we produce high-quality evidence? This EGS Guide explores the changing and challenging glaucoma surgery environment aiming to provide answers to these questions. The EGS uses four words to highlight a continuum: Innovation, Education, Communication, and Implementation. Translating innovation to successful implementation is crucially important and requires high-quality evidence to ensure steps forward to a positive impact on health care when it comes to implementation. The vision of EGS is to provide the best possible well-being and minimal glaucomainduced visual disability in individuals with glaucoma within an affordable healthcare system. In this regard, assessing the changes in glaucoma surgery is a pivotal contribution to better care. As mentioned, this Guide aims to provide answers to the crucial questions above. However, every clinician is aware that answers may differ for every person: an individualised approach is needed. Therefore, there will be no uniform answer for all situations and all patients. Clinicians would need, through the clinical method and possibly some algorithm, to reach answers and decisions at the individual level. In this regard, evidence is needed to support clinicians to make decisions. Of key importance in this Guide is to provide an overview of existing evidence on glaucoma surgery and specifically on recent innovations and novel devices, but also to set standards in surgical design and reporting for future studies on glaucoma surgical innovation. Designing studies in surgery is particularly challenging because of many subtle variations inherent to surgery and hence multiple factors involved in the outcome, but even more because one needs to define carefully outcomes relevant to the research question but also to the future translation into clinical practice. In addition this Guide aims to provide clinical recommendations on novel procedures already in use when insufficient evidence exists. EGS has a long tradition to provide guidance to the ophthalmic community in Europe and worldwide through the EGS Guidelines (now in their 5th Edition). The EGS leadership recognized that the changing environment in glaucoma surgery currently represents a major challenge for the clinician, needing specific guidance. Therefore, the decision was made to issue this Guide on Glaucoma Surgery in order to help clinicians to make appropriate decisions for their patients and also to provide the framework and guidance for researchers to improve the quality of evidence in future studies. Ultimately this Guide will support better Glaucoma Care in accordance with EGS’s Vision and Mission. Fotis Topouzis EGS President Contributors All contributors have provided the appropriate COI visible in detail at www.eugs.org/pages/guidesurgical/ This manuscript reflects the work and thoughts of the list of individuals recognized above, but importantly, it reflects EGS views on the subject matter. Its strength originates from a team effort, where a cohesive group of authors and reviewers have worked towards a common goal and now stand behind the text in its entirety. The EGS nevertheless wishes to thank the following external contributors for their additional expertise, which was particularly valuable to the development of this Surgical Guide: Amanda Bicket, Jonathan Bonnar, Catey Bunce, Kuan Hu, Sheffinea Koshy, Jimmy Le, Tianjing Li, Francisco Otarola, Riaz Qureshi, Anupa Shah, Richard Stead and Marta Toth. A particular appreciation goes to Ian Saldanha for drafting the introductory overview on Core Outcomes on chapter 8. Finally, EGS would like to acknowledge Augusto Azuara Blanco, Chair of the Scientific and Guidelines Committee, for his expertise and advisory role throughout the entire process. Luis Abegao Pinto , Centro Hospitalar Universitário Lisboa Norte Editor Gordana Sunaric Mégevand , Eye Research Centre, Adolphe de Rothschild Hospital, Geneva, Switzerland and Centre Ophtalmologique de Florissant, Geneva, Switzerland Editor Ingeborg Stalmans , Ingeborg Stalmans, University Hospitals UZ Leuven, Catholic University KU Leuven Editor Luis Abegao Pinto , Centro Hospitalar Universitário Lisboa Norte Hana Abouzeid , Clinical Eye Research Centre Adolph de Rothschild, AZ Ophthalmologie Eleftherios Anastasopoulos , Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Papageorgiou Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece Augusto Azuara Blanco , Centre for Public Health, Queen’s University Belfast Luca Bagnasco , Clinica Oculistica, DiNOGMI University of Genoa Alessandro Bagnis , Clinica Oculistica, IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino Joao Barbosa Breda , Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto, Porto, Portugal. Centro Hospitalar e Universitário São João, Porto, Portugal. KULeuven, Belgium Keith Barton , University College London, Moorfields Eye Hospital Amanda Bicket , University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI, USA) Jonathan Bonnar , Belfast Health and Social Care Trust Chiara Bonzano , Clinica Oculistica, IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino Rupert Bourne , Cambridge University Hospital Alain Bron , University Hospital Dijon Catey Bunce , King’s College London Carlo Cutolo , Clinica Oculistica, DiNOGMI University of Genoa, and IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino Barbara Cvenkel , University Medical Centre Ljubljana Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana Antonio Fea , University of Turin Theodoros Filippopoulos , Athens Vision Eye Institute Panayiota Founti , Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Stefano Gandolfi , U.O.C. Oculistica, University of Parma Julian Garcia Feijoo , Hospital Clinico San Carlos, Universidad Complutense, Madrid Gerhard Garhoefer , Medical University of Vienna, Austria David Garway Heath , Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London. Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London. Gus Gazzard , Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London. Institute of Ophthalmology, University College London. Stylianos Georgoulas , Addenbrooke’s, Cambridge University Hospitals Dimitrios Giannoulis , Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, AHEPA Hospital, Thessaloniki, Greece Franz Grehn , University Hospitals Wuerzburg Kuang Hu , NIHR Moorfields Biomedical Research Centre, London – Institute of Ophthalmology – University College London Michele Iester , Clinica Oculistica, DiNOGMI University of Genoa, and IRCCS Ospedale Policlinico San Martino Hari Jayaram , Moorfields Eye Hospital Gauti Johannesson , Umea University Stylianos Kandarakis , National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, G. Gennimatas Hospital, Athens, Greece.</jat

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