Abstract
Purpose :
To compare anatomic and functional outcomes in patients ondergoing cataract surgery, whether operated by junior/resident surgeons or senior surgeons.
Methods :
Two hundred (200) patients with cataract were consecutively enrolled, and were randomly operated of phacoemulsification and intraocular lens implantation by junior (<100 operations) or senior (>300 operations) surgeons (1:1 ratio). We analysed intraoperative complications (vitreous loss) and post-operative best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), corneal opacity and intraocular pressure (IOP) at 1-day post-operative. Results were taken as significant if p<0.05.
Results :
One undred (100) patients were operated by junior surgeons, while 100 were operated by senior surgeons. The rate of intraoperative complications (vitreous loss) was higher in the junior surgeons group (5 vs 1, p=0.0973). Mean BCVA at 1-day post-operative was not significantly different between the two groups (0.28±0.27 vs 0.35±0.56 logMAR, p=0.0848), nor was the presence of corneal opacity (35.29% vs 13.64%, p=0.8728) or IOP (17.66±5.37 vs 16.22±2.57).
Conclusions :
Despite the intraoperative complications related to the learning curve, our data suggest that cataract operation undertaken by junior surgeons could be as effective as the one performed by senior surgeons.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2018 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Honolulu, Hawaii, April 29 - May 3, 2018.