Trabectome is an FDA-cleared device for minimally invasive surgical treatment of open angle glaucoma. It safely ablates and removes a 60°-120° strip of trabecular meshwork using a focused electrosurgical pulse and re-establishes access to the eye’s natural drainage pathway.

But is it superior to a traditional trabeculectomy?

In a recent study, trabeculectomy delivered a better IOP (10) than Trabectome (16) with better success rate (76 vs. 22%).

My take is that if your patient has only mild-moderate glaucoma, chances are an IOP of 15 is pretty good. Also, you can always do trab later- so you have nothing to lose (especially if you are in the eye anyway doing phaco).