The Effect of Therapeutic IOP-lowering Interventions on the Twenty-four Hour Ocular Dimensional Profile Recorded with a Sensing Contact Lens.

PURPOSE: We investigated the effect of different intraocular pressure (IOP)-lowering interventions on contact lens sensor (CLS) parameters and their relationship with Goldman applanation tonometer (GAT)-measured IOP reduction.

METHODS: Data from reliable CLS recordings performed before and after IOP-lowering interventions were analyzed. Three interventions were evaluated: topical medications, laser trabeculoplasty, and incisional surgery. A set of 115 different CLS parameters were derived from 24-hour curves. We compared before vs after values for each parameter. In addition, linear regression was performed using the percentage change of each CLS parameter as the outcome variable and the type of IOP-lowering procedure as the predictor after adjusting age and race. Finally, we investigated the relationship between changes in CLS parameters and GAT IOP with Spearman's rank correlation coefficient.

RESULTS: 182 eyes of 182 patients were included in the analyses: 60 (33%) topical medications, 69 (38%) laser, and 53 (29%) surgery. The mean GAT IOP change was 3.6±6.5▒mm Hg (P<0.001). Overall, more CLS parameters had a significant change after surgery than in the other groups (surgery>laser=drug). Linear regression showed that, for 20 CLS parameters, surgery was the most predictive of greatest percentage change in CLS signals. 11 (9.5%) of CLS parameters were significantly correlated with GAT changes.

CONCLUSIONS: Incisional glaucoma surgery had a more pronounced effect on GAT and CLS parameters than laser and drugs. The CLS can detect changes in patterns resulting from IOP-lowering interventions beyond day-time GAT IOP. This device could potentially be used to assess treatment efficacy in glaucoma.