Supraciliochoroidal fluid incidence at the early stage after trabeculectomy: study with anterior segment optical coherence tomography.

PURPOSE: To analyze the appearance of supraciliochoroidal fluid (SCF) within 1 week after trabeculectomy with anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT), a high-resolution, non-contact detection method.
METHODS: In this prospective, non-comparative study, AS-OCT was used to assess the incidence of SCF in 25 eyes of 22 glaucoma patients who underwent trabeculectomy. Eyes were examined for SCF before and at 1, 3 days, and 1 week after surgery. Eyes with SCF were additionally examined at 2, 3, 4, and 8 postoperative weeks. Eyes were examined for the intraocular pressure (IOP), central depth of anterior chamber, and anterior inflammation.
RESULTS: None of the 25 eyes displayed preoperative SCF. Postoperative SCF was found in 19 eyes (76%), which first appeared on day 1 (10/19), day 3 (5/19), or 1 week (4/19) after surgery. Diagnoses of the 19 eyes included primary open-angle glaucoma (8 eyes), chronic primary angle-closure glaucoma (5 eyes), acute primary angle closue glaucoma (5 eyes), and secondary glaucoma (1 eye). SCF was found in four (16 eyes, 84.2%), two (2 eyes, 10.5%), or one quadrant (1 eye, 5.3%). Most of the 19 eyes displayed grade I (10 eyes, 52.6%) or grade II detachment (8 eyes, 42.1%), with 1 eye (5.3%) showing grade III detachment. The lowest IOP was lower in eyes with SCF (4.3 ± 2.7 mmHg) than in those without (16.3 ± 6.0 mmHg) (p = 0.000). The IOP rose from 7.55 ± 4.33 mmHg at SCF detection to 13.47 ± 5.52 mmHg at SCF disappearance (p = 0.009). Most eyes (17 eyes, 89.5%) had displayed no SCF by week 4, but one eye still displayed SCF at 8 postoperative weeks.
CONCLUSIONS: At the very early stages after trabeculectomy (within 1 postoperative week), SCF was detected frequently with AS-OCT. Compared with previous reports using other detection methods, AS-OCT diagnosed postoperative SCF more frequently and at earlier time points.