Extracapsular cataract extraction with posterior chamber lens implantation in patients with glaucoma
J. Handa, J. C. Henry, T. Krupin and E. Keates
Forty-six patients with medically controlled open angle glaucoma were
scheduled to undergo extracapsular cataract extraction with implantation of
a posterior chamber intraocular lens. Surgery was performed in 43 eyes;
three eyes had an intraoperative complication that prevented a posterior
chamber lens implantation. The mean preoperative intraocular pressure was
17.6 mm Hg with the patients receiving a mean of 1.9 medications. The mean
intraocular pressure (16.2 mm Hg) and the number of medications (1.4)
administered to the 43 eyes having the planned surgery were significantly
decreased an average of 23.4 months following cataract surgery. Seventy-two
percent of the eyes had a postoperative visual acuity of 20/40 or better.
Operative complications were similar to those reported for the same type of
cataract surgery in nonglaucomatous eyes. However, there seemed to be an
increased incidence of postoperative cystoid maculopathy (11.6%) in these
glaucomatous eyes compared with previous reports in the literature and with
the incidence in nonglaucomatous eyes that we treated. Our study shows that
extracapsular cataract extraction with a posterior chamber lens can be
effective in restoring vision without compromising intraocular pressure
control in eyes with preexisting open angle glaucoma.
