Nonpenetrating Glaucoma Surgery and Microinvasive Glaucoma Surgery

Call for Papers

Glaucoma, the second cause of blindness worldwide, is identified as an optic neuropathy causing a characteristic loss of optic nerve fibers with subsequent characteristic optic disc cupping and visual field defects. It is estimated that around 60 million people suffer from open-angle and closed-angle glaucoma, and 47% of those people are living in Asia. Additionally, another 6 million people suffer from various forms of secondary glaucoma. The patients who are blind from glaucoma are estimated to be around 8 million. A significant percentage of patients with glaucoma (between 50% and 80%) are unaware of their disease according to the prevalence studies.

Intraocular pressure (IOP) is the only modifiable factor with current treatment options. Researchers indicated that lower IOP minimizes both the risk of developing glaucoma and the risk of disease progression in established glaucoma. From the surgical point of view, trabeculectomy is still considered the preferred choice by the majority of glaucoma surgeons; however, recently, contemporary surgical alternatives have been introduced attempting to substitute trabeculectomy as the first choice surgical procedure. The contemporary surgical techniques in glaucoma management include the nonpenetrating techniques (deep sclerectomy, viscocanalostomy, and canaloplasty), the mini shunt (Ex-PRESS), and newer devices (Glaukos iStent, Eye-Pass, trabectome, CyPass, Solx gold shunt, and Aquashunt).

Ultimately, a new concept of microinvasive glaucoma surgery (MIGS) has gained a lot of interest. The aim of these procedures is to minimize all or at least the majority of the well-known complications of the classic trabeculectomy. The classification of MIGS can vary according to the surgical technique used, the formation of a filtering bleb, and the aqueous dynamics.

Primary indication for MIGS is the early-to-moderate open-angle glaucoma, as MIGS produces inferior hypotonic effect in comparison to trabeculectomy. Especially in presence of cataract, MIGS could lead to an easier decision for combined cataract-glaucoma surgery, and MIGS, as a preferred surgical choice in either glaucoma or combined surgery, can be done under retro/peribulbar or sub-Tenon's block or with topical anesthesia.

We invite authors to contribute sending original clinical articles as well as review articles that reflect all aspects of NPGS and MIGS including clinical results, complications, and recent technical advances. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Deep Sclerectomy
• Viscocanalostomy
• Canaloplasty
• Ex-Press
• Glaukos iStent
• CyPass
• Solx gold shunt
• Trabectome

Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal's Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jop/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/author/submit/journals/jop/npgs/ according to the following timetable:

Lead Guest Editor

• Vassilios Kozobolis, Democritus University of Thrace, Komotini, Greece

Guest Editors

• Nitin Anand, Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Trust, Halifax, West Yorkshire, UK
• Paolo Brusini, University Hospital of Udine, Udine, Italy
• Nikolaos Mavrakanas, Ophthalmology Department, Geneva University Hospital, Geneva, Switzerland
• Miguel Teus, University of Alcala, Madrid, Spain