PHACOEMULSIFICATION VERSUS ENDOCAPSULAR CATARACT-EXTRACTION IN A UNIQUE COHORT OF PATIENTS

The visual recovery and refractive results of 33 consecutive patients (66 eyes) undergoing standard endocapsular cataract extraction in one eye and simultaneous phacoemulsification in the fellow eye are reporte d. One surgeon performed all the operations. Surgically induced astigm atism was evaluated for the two techniques in terms of: (1) the propor tion of eyes with a refractive cylinder of 1.5 dioptres (D) or less; ( 2) the interocular difference in post-operative astigmatism. Eyes unde rgoing phacoemulsification had a significantly lower mean induced cyli nder (paired Student's t-test: t = 3.729; p<0.001) and were more likel y to exhibit a cylinder of 1.5 D or less (chi-squared test with Yates' correction: chi(2) = 7.88; p<0.01) than the nuclear expression group. For paired eyes less postoperative astigmatism (Wilcoxon's signed ran k test: T = 92; p<0.01) was seen in the phacoemulsification eye. At th e time of the last post-operative assessment a significantly higher pr oportion of phacoemulsified eyes achieved a corrected Snellen visual a cuity of 6/6 or better than their fellow eyes (McNemar's test: p<0.01) . The results of this unique cohort of patients confirm the beneficial effects of phacoemulsification on astigmatism and visual outcome in t he early postoperative period.