Bloopers in biometry

Session Details

Session Title: Biometry & Quality of Vision

Session Date/Time: Tuesday 25/09/2018 | 08:00-10:30

Paper Time: 08:00

Venue: Room A2

First Author: : S.Selvam UK

Co Author(s): :    L. Whitefield                    

Abstract Details

Purpose:

Implanting the incorrect IOL following phacoemulsification is listed as a Never Event in the National Health Service. Therefore systematic analysis of preoperative biometric assessment is required to prevent incorrect lenses from being chosen and to ensure the desired refractive outcome is achieved for patients. We present a case series of patients in which unexpected results in the biometry would have lead to the implantation of an incorrect lens if not picked up prior to surgery.

Setting:

Royal Free London National Health Service Foundation Trust

Methods:

We present a case series of patients attending for routine cataract surgery in which errors in obtaining the biometry or ocular pathology resulted in anamoulous biometric data which lead to incorrect IOL calculation.

Results:

We show how the application of a systemic approach to assessing pre-operative biometry and the use of standardised guidelines was able to prevent the incorrect choice of IOL in these cases.

Conclusions:

Despite advances made in the sophistication of the instruments used to measure pre-operative biometry and the calculations used to calculate IOL power, errors can still be made in the choice of IOL implantation if the biometric data derived from pre-operative assessment is not viewed together as a whole. Therefore it is vital for surgeons to fully understand the meaning of all the information conveyed by the biometric data and to be able to process it with a systematic approach to avoid potential pitfalls which may lead to the implantation of an incorrect lens.

Financial Disclosure:

-