Abstract
Purpose :
To determine if systemic selective alpha-antagonist (tamsulosin) has an impact on anterior chamber depth (ACD) as measured by partial coherence interferometry (PCI).
Methods :
A retrospective chart review of patients that had pre-operative cataract evaluation by IOLMaster (Carl Zeiss) PCI. Data was collected for tamsulosin use, age, nuclear sclerotic cataract (NSC) grade, ACD, Axial length (AL) and intraoperative floppy iris syndrome (IFIS). Exclusion criteria included prior intraocular surgery, intraocular injections or laser, other systemic or ocular medications that have an impact on anterior chamber depth including sympathomimetic or cholinergic agents and topiramate.
Results :
Data from 100 records were collected with 50 using tamsulosin and 50 serving as controls. Student t-test was used to analyze the continuous data while Fisher exact test was used to analyze categorical data. There was no statistically significant difference in the age or AL between the tamsulosin group age=73.04, AL=24.03 and the control, age=71.74, AL=23.89 (p=0.336 & 0.496 respectively). There was a statistically significant difference in ACD between the tamsulosin group at 3.17mm and the control at 3.34mm (p= 0.048). There was also a statistically significant difference in NSC grade between the groups; tamsulosin group = 2.38 and the control = 2.12 (p= 0.046). Because the sample size was too small to have sufficient power and control for NSC grade, a correlation coefficient was calculated for grade and ACD. There was a small negative association, r=-0.142.
Conclusions :
This study shows an association between systemic tamsulosin use and a shallower ACD as measured by partial coherence interferometry. Although the two groups did not differ in average age, the tamsulosin group had a higher average grade of NSC, yet the association between shallow ACD and NSC grade was small. A larger sample size will be needed to control for NSC grade to truly show an independent tamsulosin effect on ACD by partial coherence interferometry.
Limitations: This study is limited by its retrospective nature and sample size.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2018 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 29 - May 3, 2018.