A comparison of heparin-coated and uncoated intraocular lenses in glaucoma patients undergoing combined cataract extraction and trabeculectomy and in diabetic patients undergoing cataract extraction

Abstract

The postoperative course of cataract extraction and IOL implantation combined with trabeculectomy in glaucoma patients and of cataract extraction with intraocular lens (IOL) in diabetic patients is more complicated than that of cataract extraction with IOL implantation in otherwise healthy eyes. The main complications are fibrin in the anterior chamber, pigment dispersion, and posterior synechiae. In an attempt to determine whether heparin-coated lenses reduce the rate of these complications, a prospective study was conducted on 19 glaucomatous eyes of 19 patients who underwent a combined procedure of trabeculectomy and extracapsular cataract extraction with IOL and 20 eyes of 20 diabetic patients subjected to extracapsular cataract extraction with IOL. In each category of patients, the early postoperative course in those who received heparin-coated lenses and those who received regular polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) lenses was compared with respect to the inflammatory reaction, assessed by the amounts of cells and flare, and complications in terms of fibrin, posterior synechiae and pigment dispersion. The results of this preliminary study indicate a slightly higher rate of early postoperative complications with the heparin-coated lenses as compared to PMMA lenses.