Abstract
Purpose :
To describe the number of completed laser cataract surgeries and intraoperative complications in the period immediately following laser platform installation.
Methods :
Moorfields Eye Unit at St Ann’s Hospital, North London, UK is the main site of a NIHR funded randomized controlled trial comparing laser assisted to standard phacoemulsification cataract surgery (FACT trial, ISRCTN77602616). Prior to the start of the FACT trial, surgeons underwent training using the laser platform between February 2015 and April 2015. Data on these cases were identified and outcomes determined from an electronic medical records system.
Results :
Over a 10 week period, laser assisted cataract surgery was attempted on 158 eyes. Mean case age was 67.7 years old (SD 10.8). Docking was successful in 148/158 cases (93.7%), of which the laser procedure was completed in 142/148 (95.9% cases). The 4% treatment aborted rate was due to patient movement. A total of 32 surgeons, of grades from junior trainee to Consultant, performed the surgeries. Median case number per surgeon was 3 (range from 1-20). There were 3 cases with posterior capsule rupture requiring anterior vitrectomy and 1 with zonular dialysis requiring anterior vitrectomy (4/148 eyes, 2.7%). These 4 cases were performed by trainee surgeons, were either their first laser assisted cataract surgery (2 surgeons) or first and second laser assisted cataract surgeries (1 surgeon).
Conclusions :
There is a learning curve for laser assisted cataract using the AMO Catalys platform. The learning curve however, appears short with complications confined to trainee surgeons and their initial cases using the laser platform.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.