Posters

Changes in anterior chamber depth and their influence on refraction after phacoemulsification with in-the-bag foldable lens implantation

Poster Details

First Author: N. Surchev BULGARIA

Co Author(s):    Y. Kirilova   P. Vassileva                 

Abstract Details

Purpose:

To examine the changes in anterior chamber depth (ACD) after phacoemulsification with implantation of a foldable intraocular lens (IOL) in the bag and the impact of these alterations on the final refractive change.

Setting:

University Eye Hospital “Akad. Pashev”, Bulgaria.

Methods:

Retrospective chart review of patients who underwent phacoemulsification by a single surgeon in 2015 was done. Only cases with in-the-bag IOL implantation without posterior capsule rupture were considered. Measurements done with IOL Master preoperatively and at the 1-month follow-up visit were evaluated and compared. Cases with incomplete data or insufficient follow-up were excluded. The presence of refractive surprises (˃±0.5dsph spherical equivalent) was analyzed for association with ACD depth change.

Results:

The final analysis included 62 eyes of 50 patients (20 male, 30 female). The mean preoperative ACD was 3.22±0.39 mm, which increased to 4.63±0.43 mm one month after surgery. Changes in depth varied from 0.35 to 2.23 mm. One-sample paired t-test analysis proved the change to be strongly significant (P˂0.0001). In 10 cases (16.1%) the final refraction was over ±0.5dsph spherical equivalent. For most of them (8 cases) the increase in ACD was over the mean increase for the group of 1.404 mm. Spearman correlation revealed that higher ACD change could be linked to greater postoperative residual spherical equivalent (P=0.035).

Conclusions:

The current study confirms the observations that implantation of foldable IOL after phacoemulsification results in significantly increased ACD. The majority of cases with suboptimal refractive results appear to be in eyes with more pronounced ACD changes. Further studies on this matter, in correlation with other factors (i.e. corneal curvature changes) could help to improve refractive outcomes after cataract phacoemulsification.

Financial Disclosure:

NONE