Fight Glaucoma Blindness!

OVERVIEW

The major cause of irreversible blindness in Australia

Glaucoma affects 3% of Australians, rising to 11% of people over 80. There is strong evidence that lowering intraocular pressure (IOP) slows progression, and IOP can be lowered with drops, laser or surgery. Until recently, though, glaucoma surgery carried a relatively high risk of complications.

A new group of surgical devices, known as minimally invasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS), has since become available. Early data suggests they are safer in the short term than traditional surgery, but their long term safety and efficacy have yet to be established. Fight Glaucoma Blindness! was developed to close that gap.

Long term evidence for MIGS

Three MIGS devices are now TGA approved, with more in the pipeline. A small number of randomised trials give early safety and efficacy data for some devices, but no long term data is available yet.

Outcomes by glaucoma subtype

Glaucoma is a group of diseases, including normal pressure, primary open angle, secondary open angle and angle closure glaucoma. Every patient’s subtype is recorded, so we can see which devices work best for which subtype.

Cost effective follow up

Randomised trials are too expensive to answer these questions. A registry with prespecified mandatory data points tracks real world outcomes over the long term at a fraction of the cost.

Benchmark your outcomes

Surgeons can benchmark their outcomes against their peers, while data aggregated across many clinicians shows how well treatments work in the real world.