PROSPECTIVE COMPARISON OF THE HEINE RETINOMETER WITH THE MENTOR GUYTON-MINKOWSKI POTENTIAL ACUITY METER FOR THE ASSESSMENT OF POTENTIAL VISUAL-ACUITY BEFORE CATARACT-SURGERY

Various techniques and devices have been developed to aid in the asses sment of potential visual acuity prior to cataract surgery. We report a prospective comparison of two such assessments, one made using a new instrument, the hand-held Heine retinometer (HR) (Heine Instruments, Germany), and the other using the Mentor Guyton-Minkowski potential ac uity meter (PAM) (Mentor, Inc, Norwell, Mass). A total of 37 eyes were assessed using both instruments just before cataract surgery. Three e yes were excluded from analysis due to postoperative complications aff ecting visual acuity that could not have been predicted with either in strument. The false-negative rate was 44% for the PAM and 32% for the HR. There were no false-positive results with either instrument. Neith er instrument was particularly accurate in predicting actual final vis cual (r2 = 0.290 and 0.144 for the PAM and HR, respectively). The HR w as deemed easier to use.