Ophthalmology National Electronic Glaucoma Surgery and Visual Field Preservation Audit: Feasibility report
This report includes two feasibility studies for possible national glaucoma audits based on data collected using electronic medical record systems (EMR) as part of routine care and computerised visual field tests that are linked to EMRs.
- Part 1 addresses glaucoma surgery, trabeculectomy, which is the most frequently undertaken glaucoma surgical procedure
- Part 2 addresses visual field preservation in five large glaucoma care delivery centres
Glaucoma accounts for approximately 10% of people registered as sight impaired or severely sight impaired in the UK. In people over 40 years in the UK, the prevalence of glaucoma is approximately 2%, with a further 3% to 5% of people having risk factors or equivocal signs of possible glaucoma. In England and Wales this amounts to approximately half a million individuals with glaucoma and three-quarters of a million people at risk of developing glaucoma, generating a service demand of approximately two million clinical visits annually.
The only known effective treatment for glaucoma is lowering of intraocular pressure (IOP), regardless of the pre-treatment pressure. Once treatment has commenced lifelong chronic disease monitoring is necessary to maintain disease control, with treatment escalations as necessary.
Vision loss from glaucoma cannot be recovered and treatment is aimed at preservation of remaining sight. Most patients are treated with eye drops alone, laser treatment and surgery are however necessary in a proportion of affected individuals.
