Surgical outcomes of Ahmed glaucoma valve implantation with plate fixation using vicryl sutures or no plate fixation

Purpose: To summarize the surgical outcomes of Ahmed glaucoma valve (AGV) implantation with plate fixation with vicryl absorbable sutures or no plate suturing. Methods: This study was a retrospective case series that included all glaucoma patients who underwent AGV implantation surgery with vicryl absorbable sutures for plate fixation or without plate fixation by a single surgeon between 2014 and 2019. We reviewed their medical records and retrieved clinical data on intra- and postoperative complications, best-corrected visual acuity, intraocular pressure (IOP), and number of IOP-lowering medications. Results: Twenty out of 29 eyes (29 patients, mean age 61.04 +/- 27.1 years, 17 men) underwent AGV implantation without plate fixation and nine had AGV implantation with fixation with vicryl sutures. Complications were observed in 15 cases (51.7%). Nine of these were defined as failure due to the need for removal or repositioning of the AGV or for further surgery for uncontrolled IOP, of which five were no-fixation cases (5/20, 25%) and four were vicryl-fixation cases (4/9, 44.4%). Six of all surgical failures were related to AGV migration (6/9, 66.6%). There were three cases of extrusion and one case of plate migration in the no-fixation group, and two cases of plate migration and one case of extrusion in the vicryl-fixation group. Conclusion: AGV implantation without suture plate fixation or with vicryl suture fixation had a high complication and failure rate, often necessitating reoperation and AGV removal. The high rate of tube-related complications observed after both techniques does not favor either of them. The use of non-absorbable sutures for suturing of the AGV plate is recommended.