Short-term outcome of cataract surgery in tertiary hospitals

Background and aim In this study we aimed to assess the short-term outcome of phacoemulsification in a tertiary hospital and to analyze which are the factors affecting visual outcomes. Patients and methods This is a prospective cohort study that included 50 eyes (50 patients) with senile cataract, phacoemulsification was done between September 2019 and December 2020. Comprehensive ophthalmic examination: preoperatively, first day, 1 week, and 1 month postoperatively was done. The changes in best-corrected visual acuity, corneal curvature, and intraocular pressure were compared. Double-angle plot of the corneal surgically induced astigmatism (SIA) was calculated, including centroid values (C-SIA) and mean of surgically induced astigmatism (M-SIA). Results The mean age was 64.86±8.48 years, 60% right eyes. No intraoperative complications. Best-corrected visual acuity (log MAR) was 1.079±0.66 with significant improvement postoperatively (P=0.00). Mean intraocular pressure was 16.88±3.193 with significant decrease postoperatively (P=0.04). Corneal astigmatism significantly increased from 0.939±0.57 D preoperatively to 1.146±0.67 D postoperatively (P=0.02). The M-SIA was 0.65±0.32 D (OD), 0.55±0.31 D (OS), the centroid of surgically induced astigmatism C-SIA was 0.28±0.67 D at an axis of 68° (OD), and 0.15±0.72 D at an axis of 76° (OS). Good visual acuity (>20/40) was achieved in 80% and 20/20 in 22%, dense cataract significantly influences the visual outcome (P=0.02). Conclusions This study implicates that in the absence of ocular comorbidity, the visual outcome of phacoemulsification is satisfactory in short-term follow-up, and effort should be exerted during surgery to deal with ocular conditions requiring complex surgery such as dense cataract and to observe every postoperative visual progression for interventions.