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IOL implantation with vitrectomy safe in study of children younger than 2 years
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Primary IOL implantation and posterior capsulorrhexis combined with anterior vitrectomy can be safely used to correct aphakia in children during their first 2 years of life, a prospective study found.
Jagat Ram, MD, and colleagues in Chandigarh, India, investigated the efficacy of primary IOL implantation in 45 eyes of 27 children with congenital cataract at 3 weeks to 2 years of age. In all cases, surgeons performed phacoaspiration with continuous curvilinear capsulorrhexis, primary posterior capsulotomy and anterior vitrectomy, and all IOLs were placed in the bag, according to the study.
Follow-up averaged 18 months, ranging from 12 months to 48 months.
The researchers found that, in infants younger than 1 year, hypermetropia decreased from a mean of 6.6 D at 1 week postop to 3.03 D at 1 year follow-up. In children older than 1 year at the time of surgery, hypermetropia decreased from a mean of 4.78 D at 1 week postop to 2.56 D at 1 year follow-up, the authors reported.
Six eyes (13.3%) developed reopacification of the central visual axis. Also, seven eyes (15.6%) developed significant posterior synechiae caused by iridocapsular adhesion, five of which also had significant posterior capsular opacification, the authors noted.
The study is published in the May/June issue of Indian Journal of Ophthalmology.