Objective
Compare visual acuity (VA) of patients after cataract surgery with and without intraoperative complications regarding possible factors that contributed to the outcome on postoperative follow-up.
Methods
Longitudinal, retrospective study that evaluated 179 medical records of patients who underwent cataract surgery under the technique Phacoemulsification (PHACO) in the Suel Abujamra Institute from february to july 2013. Patients were divided into two groups concerning presence or absence of intraoperative complications. Data were analyzed using t-test methods for two samples or (ANOVA) Analysis of Variance. Exclusion criteria were: patients with previous ocular surgery, retinopathy related to diabetes, either proliferative or severe non proliferative, other retinopathies, optic disc cup equal to or greater than 0,7x0,7, use of more than two ocular hypotensive medications, only one eye, cataract due to uveitis, trauma or congenital.
Results
37 (20.7%) patients had intraoperative complications and 142 (79.3%) had not. Average age of patients was 70.33 years. There were 49.7% surgeries of the right eye and 50.3% of the left eye. There were 29.05% diabetic patients, of which 29.73% had intraoperative complications and 28.87% had not. From the 179 patients, 77.65% reached a final VA of 20/40 or better, considering that patients with intraoperative complications reached a VA of about 59.46% and patients without intraoperative complications of about 82.40%. The main complication was posterior capsular tear.
Conclusion
After entire evaluation, we realized that factors that influenced lower final VA, with statistical significance, were intraoperative complications and patient age.
Crystalline; Cataract; Cataract extraction; Eye surgical procedures; Phacoemulsification; Visual acuity
