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IOL use in infants increasing among pediatric ophthalmologists
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The number of pediatric ophthalmologists implanting IOLs in infants with unilateral cataracts increased fivefold over a period of 4 years, but contact lenses are still the preferred method of correction for infants, according to surveys of members of the American Association of Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus.
With the increase in ophthalmologists’ experience with IOLs in infants, it seems likely that a randomized clinical trial can be performed to compare IOLs to contact lenses in this population, researchers said.
Scott R. Lambert, MD, and colleagues surveyed all members of the AAPOS in 1997 and 2001 regarding their use of contact lenses and IOLs in children younger than 7 months of age after unilateral cataract surgery.
In the 1997 survey, only 4% of 260 respondents said that they had implanted an IOL in an infant less than 7 months old in the previous year. In the 2001 survey, 21% of 279 respondents said they had implanted an IOL in an infant. Sixty-one percent of respondents to the 2001 survey said they would be willing to randomize children in a trial comparing the two treatments.
The researchers also performed a pilot study evaluating the safety of IOL implantation in infants and parents’ willingness to have their children participate in a randomized study. Of 24 infants in the pilot study who would be eligible for randomization, 17 (71%) of those children’s parents agreed to randomization.
Based on the study results, “it seems likely that a randomized clinical trial comparing these two treatments could indeed be conducted,” the researchers concluded.
The study is published in the Journal of the AAPOS.