Complications and visual outcomes of cataract surgery in patients with pseudoexfoliation.

Abstract

To compare outcomes of cataract surgery performed by ophthalmic trainees and consultants in patients associated with pseudoexfoliation (PXF) METHODS: Retrospective review of medical records of all patients with PXF who had undergone cataract surgery from January 2016 to December 2018 at L V Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, India, were analysed RESULTS: A total of 914 eyes were included in the study; surgeries on 501 (54.8%) eyes with PXF were performed by trainees, while 413 (45.2%) were performed by consultants. Posterior capsule rupture (PCR) with vitreous loss (VL) occurred in significantly fewer eyes operated on by consultants (n = 8, 1.9%) than those operated on by trainees (n = 23, 4.5%) (p = 0.002). Eyes that underwent small incision cataract surgery (n = 100, 21.2%) had a significantly greater number of complications than those that underwent phacoemulsification (n = 31, 7.1%) (p = 0.00001). Multivariate logistic regression analysis shows that chances of a complication are higher when operated on by a trainee (OR = 1.59, 95% CI: 1.09-2.34, p = 0.02).The mean logMAR corrected distance visual acuity of patients one month post-surgery was significantly higher for patients in the consultant group (0.15 ± 0.3) than for those in the trainee group (0.2 ± 0.4) (p = 0.003). Patients with PXF operated on by trainees for cataract had a relatively higher risk of developing PCR with VL and had poorer visual outcomes than those operated on by consultants.