Comparison of Surgically Induced Astigmatism and Visual Outcome in 5.5 mm and 4.5 mm Superior Scleral Incision in Small-Incision Cataract Surgery

Abstract

Background: Comparative study of visual outcome and astigmatism between manual small-incision cataract surgery (MSICS) done through a 5.5 mm and 4.5 mm superior scleral incision. Aim: The aim of this study is to compare the visual outcome and astigmatism in manual small-incision cataract with superior scleral incision size of 4.5 mm and 5.5 mm. Settings and Design: This is a hospital-based, prospective, case–control observational study of 6-month duration; 110 eyes of 110 patients with cataract attending the ophthalmology outpatient department/inpatient department at Acharya Vinoba Bhave Rural Hospital were selected for the study after taking the inclusion and exclusion criteria into consideration. Informed consent was obtained from all participants after approval by the institutional ethical committee of the college. Materials and Methods: After enrollment, the patients were divided into two groups, one which underwent cataract extraction by MSICS with 4.5 mm superior scleral incision and the other which underwent cataract extraction by MSICS with 5.5 mm superior scleral incision. All surgeries were done by the same surgeon under the same setting and visual outcome and astigmatism were studied and compared between the two groups. Statistical Analysis Used: Statistical analysis was carried out using descriptive and inferential statistics using Chi-square test and Student's unpaired t-test and software used in the analysis was SPSS 17.0 version and GraphPad 6.0 version and P < 0.05 is considered a level of statistical significance. Results: Surgically induced astigmatism (SIA) in MSICS with 4.5 mm superior scleral incision was comparatively less as compared to that in patients in whom 5.5 mm incision was used. Conclusions: In the present study, we found that MSICS with 4.5 mm scleral incision has a better visual prognosis for cataract extraction as compared to conventional extracapsular cataract extraction in terms of better and early visual rehabilitation and lesser SIA.