The Collaborative Initial Glaucoma Treatment Study is directed by Dr. Martha M. Wright
This study ended recruitment in 1996. Patients have been followed since on a semi-annual basis. All patients have been followed for five years with the first patients completing nine years. It is the hope of the study to follow all the patients for at least ten years. The study was designed to compare medical treatment and surgical treatment in newly diagnosed patients with primary open angle glaucoma.
Currently in this country, initial treatment is medical management rather than surgery. However, it is estimated that after 10 years more than three-fourths of the patients on medical treatment have shown progression of their disease and over two-thirds of these have required operative surgery. At this point, it is not known if one form of treatment is better than the other for the initial management of patients with glaucoma.