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PCO rates reduced with lidocaine 1% hydrodissection, according to study
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CANCUN, Mexico — Using lidocaine 1% during hydrodissection appears to result in less posterior capsular opacification than hydrodissection with balanced salt solution, according to a poster study presented here at the Pan-American Association of Ophthalmology meeting.
Roger Onnis, MD, and colleagues at Onnis+Lista Oftalmoclínica in Argentina compared rates of postoperative posterior capsular opacification (PCO) between the two hydrodissection methods in a retrospective case series.
The study included 244 eyes of 172 patients. Of these, 122 eyes of 84 patients underwent hydrodissection involving lidocaine and 122 eyes of 88 patients underwent hydrodissection with balanced salt solution.
In all cases, surgeons performed phacoemulsification using a clear corneal incision and local anesthesia, and implanted a one-piece PMMA IOL with a 5.25-mm optic zone, according to the study.
All patients were followed out to 12 months postop.
The researchers found that the lidocaine group had an 18% rate of PCO compared with a 35% PCO rate in the balanced salt solution group. Also, among eyes that developed PCO but were not treated with capsulotomy, 20% of the lidocaine group and 12% of the balanced salt solution group had a visual acuity of 20/20 to 20/25, according to the study.
"What this suggests is that the PCO in patients in whom hydrodissection with lidocaine was performed is less dense than those patients with the [balanced salt solution] hydrodissection," the authors wrote.