Abstract
Purpose :
Establishing trends in cataract surgery techniques in Canada provides valuable information about the practice styles and preferences of ophthalmologists. We collected information from ophthalmologists in a survey study to monitor the uptake of newer techniques and research integration into clinical practice.
Methods :
Since 2009, Canadian Ophthalmological Society (COS) members were surveyed, annually, with respect to their practice styles and preferences for cataract surgery. In January 2017, an email with a link to the 2017 survey on Survey Monkey was sent to the 271 COS members with a primary focus on cataract surgery by the COS office. Two reminders were sent at 2 week intervals. Approval for the survey was obtained from the Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region Ethics Board. All responses were collected anonymously.
Results :
There were 96 responses (35.4%). Most respondents performed between 50 to 99 cataract surgeries per month (42.35%). Most respondents (91.67%) performed a Check List pre-surgery. Interestingly, 50% of those respondents identified errors by doing so. Femtolaser-assisted cataract surgery (FLACS) showed a significant uptake from 2014 to 2015 (8% to 18.9%). This has decreased this year to 11.76%. The main incision for the surgery has decreased over the last 5 years from the 2.75 mm wound size in 2012 (31.5%) to the 2.2 mm wound size in 2017 (40.48%). The use of a Toric intraocular lens (IOL) has increased markedly over the years, from 47.5% in 2009 to 90.24% in 2017. The respondents correcting astigmatism at the time of cataract surgery has increased from 43% in 2009 to 64.63% in 2017. The majority used a Toric IOL to do so. This has increased from 57.7% in 2009 to 79.25% in 2017. The use of intracameral antibiotics has increased from 23.1% in 2009 to 44.05% in 2017.
Conclusions :
Over the last nine years, certain trends in the practice patterns of the Canadian Ophthalmological Society members in cataract surgery have been observed. The uptake of Femtolaser-assisted cataract surgery was quite impressive in its first year but has since waned. The decrease in the main wound size over the years is in direct relationship to the development of new technology. This survey gives valuable information to the COS membership as to how their peers are practicing. This data can be used towards developing best practice guidelines and gold standards for cataract surgery in the future.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2018 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 29 - May 3, 2018.