Risk factors and outcomes of management of delayed suprachoroidal haemorrhage following Ahmed glaucoma valve implantation in children.

AIMS: To assess the incidence, risk factors and outcomes of management of delayed suprachoroidal haemorrhage (DSCH) in children who had undergone Ahmed glaucoma valve implantation. METHODS: A retrospective case-control study of eyes which developed DSCH in children <18 years of age who underwent surgery between January 2009 and December 2017 with a follow-up of at least 2 months was performed. Nine cases were compared with 27 age, gender and surgeon matched controls who had undergone surgery during this period. RESULTS: The incidence of DSCH was 4.7% (95% CL 1.5% to 7.7%, 9 eyes of 191 children). There were no significant differences between cases and controls in baseline details except for the number of intraocular pressure (IOP) lowering medications (p=0.01) and follow-up period (p=0.001). Risk factors identified on univariate analysis (p≤0.1) were axial length (p=0.02), diagnosis of primary congenital glaucoma (p=0.05), postoperative hypotony (p=0.07) and aphakia (p=0.1). None of them were found to be significant on multivariate analysis. Five eyes, three with retinal apposition and two with retinal detachment, underwent surgical drainage. There were no significant differences in the outcomes of eyes which underwent drainage compared with those which did not. Failures, defined as IOP>18 mm Hg despite use of medications, loss of light perception, phthisis or removal of the implant were more frequent in cases (three eyes, 33.3%) compared with controls (four eyes, 14.8%) (p=0.002). CONCLUSIONS: None of the risk factors analysed in our series proved to be significant. Failures were more common in eyes with choroidal haemorrhage, despite surgical intervention.