A Report on Endophthalmitis Following Three Different Surgical Techniques of Extracapsular Cataract Extraction

Abstract

Small incision cataract surgery by phacoemulsification has become a popular method of cataract operation in recent decade because it has the advantages of less post-operative astigmatism & rapid visual rehabilitation. However, post-operative infectious endophthalmitis still remains one of the most concerned complications of cataract surgery. This is a retrospective study to investigate the incidence of post-operative endophthalmitis among various techniques of extracapsular cataract extraction (ECCE). Total 560 cases were divided into three groups according to the operative method used: Conventional ECCE (288 eyes, Group Ⅰ), Phacoemulsification with suture(147 eyes, Group Ⅱ) and Phacoemulsification without suture(185 eyes, Group Ⅲ). Our results showed that one patient from group Ⅱ and one patient from group Ⅲ developed post-operative endophthalmitis respectively. There's no statistical difference (P＞0.05) among the three operation methods regarding the incidence of endophthalmitis. The other factors such as wound width, surgical time and the number of suture placed at wound do not attribute to a higher risk of post-operative endophthalmitis. In conclusion, the post-operative endophthalmitis is equally low in traditional ECCE & small incision cataract surgery.