Clinical trial NCT03365778: Educational Intervention to Adopt SLT as First-Line Glaucoma Treatment
Official title: An Educational Intervention to Increase Adoption of Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty as First-Line Treatment for Glaucoma
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Primary Open-angle Glaucoma
Keywords: educational intervention
SLT
selective laser trabeculoplasty
POAG
eye drops
Primary Open Angle Glaucoma
Lead sponsor: Wills Eye
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2017-12-07
Enrollment: 86
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 40
Maximum age (years): 90
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Intervention model description: Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty (SLT) Educational Intervention group (n=20) or Usual Care group (n=20). Knowledge, beliefs, barriers, and attitudes about SLT vs. medication as first line treatment of glaucoma will be assessed in both groups.

To evaluate barriers for widespread adoption of this procedure, we assessed beliefs and attitudes of ophthalmologists regarding SLT. We developed an educational slide presentation targeted at physicians to increase consideration of SLT earlier in glaucoma treatment paradigm.
Primary purpose: OTHER

Brief summary: The purpose of this study is to develop an educational program that will help improve the patients' understanding of what laser treatment is, how it might be beneficial to them, and why it should be the first eye pressure lowering glaucoma treatment to consider before the use of glaucoma eye drops.

Detailed description: Glaucoma is a disease characterized by optic nerve damage, visual field defects, elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) and progressive vision loss. More than 3 million Americans have glaucoma and more than 150,000 are blind as a result.

Regular use of glaucoma medications can usually lower intraocular pressure (IOP), prevent disease progression, preserve vision and prevent blindness. However, many people with glaucoma do not always use their medication as directed, with about one-third to one-half of patients with glaucoma not taking their drops as often as necessary, or have difficulty putting in the drops. There are also numerous local side effects from using glaucoma eye drops including red eyes, blurry vision and dry eye symptoms. Systemic side effects from eye drops range from triggering asthma, to lethargy and depression.

Selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT) has been used safely and effectively for the treatment of elevated IOP in patients with open angle glaucoma for more than 20 years. SLT may result in mild and temporary IOP elevation, but this is a small risk and rarely significant. Other side effects include blurred vison and inflammation of the cornea (front, clear part of the eye), but they are extremely rare.

The purpose of this study is to develop an educational program that will help improve the patients' understanding of what laser treatment is, how it might be beneficial to them, and why it should be considered as first glaucoma treatment before the use of glaucoma eye drops.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* patients between 40 and 90 years of age
* high-risk ocular hypertension, primary open-angle glaucoma, or pseudo-exfoliation glaucoma
* currently treated with at least one glaucoma eye drop with stable intraocular pressure

Exclusion Criteria:

* previous laser trabeculoplasty
* previous glaucoma surgery

Primary outcomes:
measure: Completion of Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty (SLT)
timeFrame: 1 hour
measure: Measure Educational Effects of Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty (SLT)
timeFrame: 1 hour
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Measure Educational Effects of Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty (SLT) Among Ophthalmologists
timeFrame: 30 minutes
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Philadelphia
country: United States
facility: Wills Eye Hospital
state: Pennsylvania
Study officials:
affiliation: Wills Eye
name: L. Jay Katz, MD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Tran E, Sanvicente C, Hark LA, Myers JS, Zhang Q, Shiuey EJ, Tran J, Bonafede L, Hamershock RA, Withers C, Katz LJ. Educational intervention to adopt selective laser trabeculoplasty as first-line glaucoma treatment: Randomized controlled trial: Educational intervention on selective laser trabeculoplasty. Eur J Ophthalmol. 2022 May;32(3):1538-1546. doi: 10.1177/11206721211018365. Epub 2021 May 27.