A Systematic Review of Cyclophotocoagulation Techniques: Continuous Wave Versus Micropulse for Glaucoma Treatment

Objectives: Micro-pulse cyclophotocoagulation (MP-CPC) represents the latest iteration of minimally invasive laser pro-cedures aimed at reducing intraocular pressure (IOP) through the disruption of pigmented ciliary body epithelium. This systematic review aims to assess the efficacy and safety profile of the MP-CPC procedure in comparison to CW-CPC for the treatment of glaucoma.
Methods: We initiated a search on PubMed, ScienceDirect, and the Cochrane Library databases for studies that com-pared micro-pulse and traditional CW-CPC in terms of their efficacy and safety profiles. We employed medical sub-ject headings terms and keywords such as “cyclophotocoagulation,” “cyclodestructive,” “photocoagulation,” “CPC,” “mi-cropulse,” “micro-pulse,” and “glaucoma” within the timeframe from 2015 to 2023. We assessed the success rate, IOP reduction, antiglaucoma medications, and complications of MP-CPC and CW-CPC.
Results: We included six articles in this study, comprising two randomized controlled trials, three retrospective, and one prospective cohort, published between 2015 and 2023. Five out of six reported a significant reduction in IOP for both pro-cedures with comparable success rates observed in MP-CPC compared to CW-CPC. One article reported an increase in IOP in MP-CPC. Both groups reported a decrease in the number of antiglaucoma medications, while one study reported an increase in medications in both MP-CPC and CW-CPC groups. Complication rates were lower in the MP-CPC group with two articles reporting a significant decrease compared to the CW-CPC group.
Conclusion: MP-CPC has shown promising results in the treatment of glaucoma in the adult population. With compa-rable results in IOP reduction and fewer instances of serious ocular complications, MP-CPC may open new possibilities for the use of cyclophotocoagulation procedures in the earlier stages of glaucoma. However, its efficacy in the pediatric population and for neovascular glaucoma remains less defined, thus warranting further studies to establish optimal laser parameters for different types of glaucoma and specific populations of glaucoma patients.