Abstract
Abstract: :
Purpose: To identify the prevalence of post-operative occurrence of intraocular lens opacities in a patient population. The examiners also investigated the lens type and year of implantation associated with lens glistenings. Methods: Over a six month period, a case series was conducted to evaluate the intraocular lens for glistenings in patients who had undergone extracapsular cataract extraction and placement of a posterior chamber intraocular lens implant at any time during their lifetime. All lenses evaluated were placed by the same surgeon. Examiners observed these patients for the presence of intraocular lens opacities. Type of intraocular lens, date of surgery, degree of opacification, and presence of capsulotomy were documented. Data was tabulated. Results: We examined 120 patients between 9/14/01-4/30/02 who had posterior chamber intraocular lens implants. Out of these patients, 56 of 222 (25.23%) intraocular lenses showed evidence of glistening. The opacities were seen in lenses implanted 1997-2001. The most common lens implanted during this time period was the MA60BM and 99.58% of opacified lenses were this model. One lens model, SA60AT, also exhibited glistening within the lens optic. Magnitude of glistening varied between patients. Lens opacification also differed between patients who received intraocular lenses within the same year and between fellow eyes of one individual. Lens glistening was not associated with YAG capsulotomy. Conclusion: Many independent investigators have described glistening of Acrysof ® intraocular lens optics, including Apple et al.1995. Miyata et al. observed these glistenings in 57% of patients with Acrysof ® lenses. These glistenings were seen in our patient population. The opacities were most commonly seen with MA60BM model lenses implanted between 1997-2001. The earliest noted glistening was seen 10 months after implantation. These opacities are prevalent and affected 36.67% of our pseudophakic patient population. Presence of a glistening IOL in the fellow eye, YAG capsulotomy, and year of implantation appeared to have no affect on presence of lens opacities. The clinical significance and influence on visual acuity is now being studied.
Keywords: clinical (human) or epidemiologic studies: out • cataract • treatment outcomes of cataract surgery