Femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery in paediatrics

Session Details

Session Title: Congenital Cataract Surgery

Session Date/Time: Sunday 14/09/2014 | 16:30-18:30

Paper Time: 17:12

Venue: Boulevard A

First Author: : T.Schultz GERMANY

Co Author(s): :    H. Dick              

Abstract Details

Purpose:

Congenital cataract is one of the most common causes of blindness in childhood. An early surgical treatment with intensive follow-up is the only effective treatment option. Due to the high elasticity of the child's capsule the capsulotomy is the most difficult step of the procedure. Often the size of the capsulotomy cannot be controlled and turns out to large. In this prospective trial we used a femtosecond laser for cataract surgery to perform an anterior and if necessary posterior capsulotomy in paediatrics.

Setting:

Ruhr University Eye Clinic, Bochum, Germany

Methods:

Twenty infants aged under 18 years were included in this trial. The anterior and if necessary the posterior capsulotomy were performed with a femtosecond laser for cataract surgery (Catalys Precision Laser System, Abbott Medical optics, Santa Ana, USA). Two different patient interfaces with an inner diameter of 14.1 mm and 12.0 mm were used. All cases were HD videotaped and the correlation between the programmed capsulotomy diamter and the achieved capsulotomy diameter was investigated.

Results:

The mean age of the patients was 9 years and 6 months. The entire procedure was performed under general anaesthesia and sterile conditions in the operating room. In all cases it was possible to dock the eye to the laser system and the 3D spectral domain OCT was able to visualize the anterior segment of the eye. In none of the cases a capsule tear or other intraoperative complications occurred. A linear correlation between the programmed capsulotomy diamter and the achieved capsulotomy diameter was found. Within the follow up (3 month to 2 years) no complications occurred.

Conclusions:

With the used femtosecond laser for cataract surgery it is possible for the first time to perform a well sized anterior and posterior capsulotomy with a precalculated size. We recommend the use of a correcting factor in order to achieve a low deviation from target diameter.

Financial Interest:

NONE