Extrait

Background and study aims Glaucoma is an eye disease that affects the nerve responsible for sight. This damage has no symptoms in its early stages, but when becomes severe, may even lead to loss of vision. The damage is not reversible, so the aim of treatment is to slow down the rate of damage. Ocular hypertension is a condition in which a high pressure in the eye-ball causes glaucoma in some people. Reducing the eye pressure can prevent damage to the eyesight (in some people but not all). At the moment, nearly all patients who have glaucoma or ocular hypertension are given treatment with eye-drops to lower the pressure in the eye. Once started, these are usually continued life-long. However, not all patients like to take drops. An alternative treatment involves gentle laser therapy to the front of the eye (Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty or SLT). The aim of the study is to find out whether initial treatment with SLT in patients with newly found glaucoma or ocular hypertension is better than the current standard initial treatment with topical medication alone. Who can participate? This trial accepts participants who have been found to have glaucoma or ocular hypertension with a decision to treat made by a consultant glaucoma specialist. The patients must be aged over 18 years and be able to provide informed consent. What does the study involve? Patients are randomly allocated to one of two groups. One group receives SLT first followed by usual medical therapy as required (Laser-1st) and the other group receives medical therapy without laser (Medicine-1st). The two treatments are compared, while also checking the cost-effectiveness of Laser-1st versus Medicine-1st. What are the possible benefits and risks for participating? There will be no immediate direct benefit to those taking part. Participants will be followed and treated in the same way as if they were not in the study, except that half of the people will be given laser as their first treatment (up to two times), before being offered eye-drops. The information we get from this study may help us to treat future patients with glaucoma better. The drop treatments planned for the study are exactly the same as those that are in normal common use by eye doctors throughout this country. Drops can have mild side effects (such as mild discomfort or redness of the eye, that usually settles with time) or more severe ones such as making asthma (disease of the airways) worse. The laser treatment that we plan to use for half the people in this study has been used in many hundreds of thousands of people over the last 10 years. In a small number of people it can cause mild discomfort for a few days and if this is the case then mild dose of eye drops are used three times a day for three days. Very rarely the laser can make the eye pressure go up instead of down and if that happens it is necessary to take eye-drops to lower the pressure. Even more rarely (reported in only 4 people out of many hundreds of thousands) the laser has caused enough side effects to make the eye blurred for several weeks. When is the study starting and long is it expected to run for? October 2012 to October 2017. Where is the study run from? Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, UK. Who is funding the study? The National Institute of Health Research (NIHR), UK. Who is the main contact? Dr Amanda Davis [email protected]

Critère d'inclusion

• Glaucoma

Liens

• ictrp
• isrctn