Potential acuity meter accuracy in cataract patients

Purpose: To determine potential acuity meter (PAM) accuracy in patients wit h cataract as the only ocular disease. Setting: Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre, Brazil. Methods: This prospective study comprised 74 eyes with cataract. Patients w ith other ocular pathology diagnosed before or after surgery, as well as th ose with complicated surgeries, were excluded. All patients had PAM evaluat ion before surgery; these results were compared to the final postoperative visual acuity. Patients were divided into 4 cataract groups based on the Le ns Opacity Classification System II: Group 1, early cataracts (nuclear opal escence [NO] 1 and/or posterior subcapsular cataracts [P] 1 and/or cortical opacity [C] < 2); Group 2, definite cataracts (NO2 and/or C2, with or with out P1), Group 3, posterior cataracts (P2 or P3); Group 4, mature cataracts (N3 and/or C greater than or equal to 3, with or without P1). The PAM resu lt was considered accurate if it was within 2 lines of the postoperative be st spectacle-corrected visual acuity (BSCVA) 3 months after surgery. Results: All patients had a BSCVA of 20/20. Accuracy of the PAM was 58.3% i n Group 1, 50.0% in Group 2, 27.8% in Group 3, and 6.74% in Group 4 (P = .0 00 017). Patient age did not influence the results. Conclusions: The PAM may be used as a complementary tool in evaluating earl y and nondense cataracts; however, patients should not be excluded as candi dates for cataract surgery based solely on PAM results. J Cataract Refract Surg 2000; 26: 1238-1241 (C) 2000 ASCRS and ESCRS.