Abstract
Purpose:
Controversy exists regarding the best possible treatment options for pediatric traumatic cataract cases. Our goal was to retrospectively analyse the results of traumatic cataract cases in children treated at our department.
Methods:
At the Department of Ophthalmology, University of Pécs, Faculty of Medicine, Hungary, 31 patients were treated under the age of 18 with the diagnosis of traumatic cataract between 1998 and 2014. The mean age at the time of treatment was 8,88 years. 74,2% of our patients were male, 25,8% female.
Results:
Sixty-five percent of our patients suffered penetrating/perforating eye injury and 35% suffered blunt trauma in one eye. In 16% of the cases intraocular foreign body was also present. Due to patients’ or caretakers’ negligance only 50% of the patients were treated within 24 hours after the trauma. The primary treatment consisted of corneal or scleral wound closure with sutures and extraction of the cataractous lens. 3 patients required a simultaneous pars plana vitrectomy, and iris reposition. Primary IOL implantation was performed in 6 cases and secondary implantation in 13 cases. Postoperative complications included iritis fibrinosa and retinal detachment in 6%, hyphema, epiretinal membrane and endophthalmitis in 3% of the cases. Postoperative care included topical antiinflammatory agents and amblyopia treatment when it was necessary. A postoperative best corrected visual acuity of 0,6 or better was achieved in 35% of the cases.
Conclusions:
Treatment of pediatric traumatic cataract requires a complex approach. With meticulous surgical techniques, postoperative antiinflammatory and amblyopia treatment satisfactory visual functions may be achieved even after severe trauma to the eye.