The aim of the paper was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of minimally invasive antiglaucoma procedures: Canaloplasty and iStent bypass implantation with and without phacoemulsification in patients with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG). A systematic review of the recent literature was performed based on the PubMed, Google Scholar, Web of Science and Scopus databases. The effectiveness of the procedures was evaluated based on the reduction of intraocular pressure (IOP) and the amount of antiglaucoma medication used before and after surgery. Safety of the treatments was evaluated based on the number of incidences of certain intraoperative and postoperative complications. Independent prospective randomized controlled trials (PRCTs) have demonstrated that both procedures, canaloplasty and iStent implantation, are effective in reducing IOP and the amount of antiglaucoma medication. Considering the safety profile of these procedures, both canaloplasty and iStent implantation are associated with low rates of postoperative complications and have similar safety profiles. Further studies are needed to confirm the results of our analysis, including a high-quality randomized controlled trial comparing canaloplasty and iStent bypass implantation.
Keywords: canaloplasty; iStent; intraocular pressure; minimally invasive glaucoma surgery; phacocanaloplasty; phacoemulsification with iStent; primary open angle glaucoma.