Two-Year COMPASS Trial Results: Supraciliary Microstenting with Phacoemulsification in Patients with Open-Angle Glaucoma and Cataracts

Purpose: We evaluated 2-year safety and efficacy of supraciliary microstenting (CyPass Micro-Stent; Transcend Medical, Inc., Menlo Park, CA) for treating mild-to-moderate primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) in patients undergoing cataract surgery. Design: Multicenter (24 US sites), interventional randomized clinical trial (RCT) (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier, NCT01085357). Participants: Subjects were enrolled beginning July 2011, with study completion in March 2015. Subjects had POAG with mean diurnal unmedicated intraocular pressure (IOP) 21-33 mmHg and were undergoing phacoemulsification cataract surgery. Methods: After completing cataract surgery, subjects were intraoperatively randomized to phacoemulsification only (control) or supraciliary microstenting with phacoemulsification (microstent) groups (1: 3 ratio). Microstent implantation via an ab interno approach to the supraciliary space allowed concomitant cataract and glaucoma surgery. Main Outcome Measures: Outcome measures included percentage of subjects achieving >= 20% unmedicated diurnal IOP lowering versus baseline, mean IOP change and glaucoma medication use, and ocular adverse event (AE) incidence through 24 months. Results: Of 505 subjects, 131 were randomized to the control group and 374 were randomized to the microstent group. Baseline mean IOPs in the control and microstent groups were similar: 24.5 +/- 3.0 and 24.4 +/- 2.8 mmHg, respectively (P > 0.05); mean medications were 1.3 +/- 1.0 and 1.4 +/- 0.9, respectively (P > 0.05). There was early and sustained IOP reduction, with 60% of controls versus 77% of microstent subjects achieving >= 20% unmedicated IOP lowering versus baseline at 24 months (P - 0.001; per-protocol analysis). Mean IOP reduction was down arrow 7.4 mmHg for the microstent group versus down arrow 5.4 mmHg in controls (P < 0.001), with 85% of microstent subjects not requiring IOP medications at 24 months. Mean 24-month medication use was 67% lower in microstent subjects (P < 0.001); 59% of control versus 85% of microstent subjects were medication free. Mean medication use in controls decreased from 1.3 +/- 1.0 drugs at baseline to 0.7 +/- 0.9 and 0.6 +/- 0.8 drugs at 12 and 24 months, respectively, and in the microstent group from 1.4 +/- 0.9 to 0.2 +/- 0.6 drugs at both 12 and 24 months (P < 0.001 for reductions in both groups at both follow-ups vs. baseline). No vision-threatening microstent-related AEs occurred. Visual acuity was high in both groups through 24 months; >98% of all subjects achieved 20/40 best-corrected visual acuity or better. Conclusions: This RCT demonstrated safe and sustained 2-year reduction in IOP and glaucoma medication use after microinterventional surgical treatment for mild-to-moderate POAG. (C) 2016 by the American Academy of Ophthalmology.