PEI-GT Trial for Initial Treatment of Primary Open-Angle Glaucoma With Cataract

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn whether doing phacoemulsification combined with gonioscopy-assisted trabeculotomy as an initial treatment can reduce the burden of glaucoma eye drops in adults with primary open-angle glaucoma and cataract. It will also learn whether this early surgical strategy improves ocular surface health and vision-related quality of life. The main questions it aims to answer are:

Does early combined surgery reduce the need for long-term glaucoma medications? Does early combined surgery improve ocular surface health compared with cataract surgery followed by guideline-based glaucoma eye drops? Does early combined surgery improve vision-related quality of life and anxiety compared with the medication-based treatment strategy? What medical problems or complications do participants have after treatment? Researchers will compare phacoemulsification combined with gonioscopy-assisted trabeculotomy to phacoemulsification followed by guideline-based topical eye pressure-lowering medications.

Participants will:

Undergo cataract surgery with or without gonioscopy-assisted trabeculotomy Attend follow-up visits for 24 months after treatment Have eye pressure, visual acuity, OCT, AS-OCT, visual field, ocular surface, and safety examinations at scheduled visits Complete quality-of-life and anxiety questionnaires at scheduled visits Provide tear samples at selected visits for biomarker testing where applicable