Ab interno canaloplasty cuts IOP 26% over 10 years

Medical Dialogues reported on May 22 that ab interno canaloplasty was associated with a 26% reduction in intraocular pressure and about a 50% drop in medication dependence over a 10-year observation period. The report did not name the study or provide trial details in the text available online. Independent searches on May 22 surfaced peer-reviewed papers on ab interno canaloplasty with shorter follow-up, including 36-month and roughly 3.4-year case series, but not a clearly matching 10-year published trial. Ab interno canaloplasty is one of several minimally invasive glaucoma surgery approaches aimed at improving aqueous outflow through Schlemm’s canal. Published studies identified during verification describe the technique as an implant-free, ab interno procedure performed with microcatheter-based viscodilation, either alone or with cataract surgery. ### What exactly was reported on May 22? (medicaldialogues.in) Medical Dialogues said on May 22 that ab interno canaloplasty produced a 26% reduction in intraocular pressure, or IOP, and cut medication dependence by about 50% over 10 years. The outlet framed the finding as evidence of a durable effect in glaucoma management, but the story did not identify the trial name, journal, sample size or investigators in the text returned by search. (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) A May 22 verification search did not locate a primary-source paper that precisely matched all of those figures and the 10-year follow-up window. That means the headline numbers can be reported as Medical Dialogues’ description of a study summary, but not yet tied here to a named publication. ### What is ab interno canaloplasty supposed to do? (medicaldialogues.in) EyeWiki describes canaloplasty as a procedure designed to lower IOP by restoring or enhancing the eye’s natural outflow pathway. In the ab interno version, surgeons access Schlemm’s canal from inside the eye and use viscodilation rather than creating a filtering bleb. The 2021 Therapeutic Advances in Ophthalmology paper by Mahmoud A. Khaimi said iTrack ab-interno canaloplasty was studied as a standalone procedure and in combination with cataract surgery in controlled mild or moderate primary open-angle glaucoma. (medicaldialogues.in) That paper focused on reducing medication burden while keeping pressure in the target range. ### What do published studies show beyond the unnamed 10-year report? (eyewiki.org) Mahmoud A. Khaimi’s 2021 case series included 45 eyes from 35 patients with a mean age of 73 years. The paper reported a 61% decrease in the mean number of medications at 36 months, to 0.60 from 1.89, while mean baseline IOP of 14.42 mmHg was maintained at 12, 24 and 36 months. A 2023 Journal of Ophthalmology paper by Shamil Patel and George Reiss followed 72 eyes for 3.4 years on average. (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) That study reported mean IOP fell 36% to 12.4 mmHg in the standalone group and 26% to 13.7 mmHg in the combined cataract-surgery group at last follow-up. Medication use fell 40% in the mild-to-moderate group, while remaining largely stable in severe eyes. ### Why does the 10-year claim need caution? (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) The key limitation is source visibility. Medical Dialogues cited a study summary, but the available report did not disclose the named trial or paper, and independent searches did not produce a clearly corresponding 10-year primary publication on May 22. That does not mean the claim is false. (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) It means the exact evidence base behind the 10-year figures could not be independently pinned to a specific journal article, conference abstract or registry entry from the materials located during this search. ### What can readers say with confidence now? Published peer-reviewed studies do support ab interno canaloplasty as a pressure-lowering, medication-sparing glaucoma procedure over follow-up periods of roughly three months to 3.4 years, with some series showing stable target IOP and fewer drops. (medicaldialogues.in) Those data are consistent in direction with the May 22 report, even if the exact 10-year source remains unidentified. The next concrete step is a named source. A journal paper, conference abstract or investigator presentation matching the 10-year numbers would allow direct scrutiny of sample size, patient selection, safety events and whether the procedure was standalone or combined with cataract surgery. (medicaldialogues.in) (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)