After-cataract and secondary glaucoma in the aphakic infant rabbit

Purpose: To study the association between after-cataract and secondary glau coma after lensectomy and 5-fluorouracil treatment in an experimental infan t rabbit model. Setting: St Erik Eye Hospital, Karolinska institute, Stockholm, Sweden. Methods: Lensectomy was performed in both eyes of 16 3-week-old rabbits. On e randomly selected eye in each rabbit was injected with 2.5 mg of 5-fluoro uracil (5-FU) at surgery and 5.0 mg the day after surgery to reduce the for mation of after-cataract. Axial length, corneal thickness, corneal diameter , and intraocular pressure were measured preoperatively and 4 times during the 6 months following surgery. Six months after surgery, the wet weight of the after-cataract was determined. Results: in 16 aphakic eyes treated with 5-FU, no or a minimal amount (< 0. 001 g) of after-cataract developed. None of the eyes showed signs of second ary glaucoma. Of 16 aphakic eyes not treated with 5-FU, 10 developed consid erable amounts of after-cataract (>0.10 g); 8 of these developed glaucoma. The other 6 eyes had no or minimal after-cataract and did not develop secon dary glaucoma. The relationship between after-cataract and secondary glauco ma was statistically significant. Conclusion: A significant relationship between the amount of after-cataract and the development of secondary glaucoma was found in aphakic infant rabb it eyes. (C) 2000 ASCRS and ESCRS.