Outcome of cataract surgery with 1 h of preoperative antibiotic regimen: A strategy during COVID-19 Pandemic: Study from a tertiary eye care hospital

Abstract

Purpose: This study aims to describe the visual and surgical outcomes of 810 eyes of 805 patients who underwent unilateral cataract surgery on the same day with 1 h of preoperative antibiotic regimen. Setting: Tertiary Care Ophthalmic Hospital. Design: Retrospective, descriptive study. Methods: This study comprised of consecutive adult patients who underwent preoperative cataract work up, received 1 h of preoperative antibiotic regimen, and underwent cataract surgery on the same day of consultation with a minimum 3-week follow-up period. This study describes the demographic profile, preoperative, intraoperative details, postoperative (PO) best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), and surgical outcomes of these patients. Results: 810 eyes of 805 patients with a mean age of 61.0 ± 9.7 years, 50% had systemic and 9% had ocular comorbidities. The mean preoperative BCVA was 0.8 ± 0.7 LogMAR. Phacoemulsification was performed in 90.1%. Intraoperative complications had occurred in 8 (1%) eyes. The mean PO BCVA of the study group on PO day 1 (POD1) and PO 3 weeks was 0.13 ± 0.3 LogMAR and 0.07 ± 0.3 LogMAR, respectively. Our study showed that 95.68% had improvement in vision, while 96.8% achieved BCVA 6/18 or better. None had PO endophthalmitis. Comparison between preoperative and both POD 1 day and PO 3-week BCVA showed statistically significant improvement (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Our study results satisfied the benchmark set by the World Health Organization (WHO) for PO BCVA with good surgical outcome. Preoperative antibiotic applied 1 h before cataract surgery provided safety and comfort and with low risk for endophthalmitis. This strategy can be adopted to tackle the backlog of cataract surgeries due to COVID-19 (or any other emergency situation) in developing countries.