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Scoring systems ‘useful’ in predicting complications during phaco
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Two separate scoring systems seem to be useful in predicting the likelihood of a complication during phacoemulsification, but the “potential difficulty score” system tends to be more reliable, according to a study.
Stuart A. Osborne and colleagues at the Sunderland Eye Infirmary in England applied two different scoring systems to a control group of 300 patients who underwent cataract surgery between 2001 and 2003 and extrapolated the results for the rest of the patient population. The researchers then applied the same scoring systems to all complicated cataract cases from the same overall population group. The two scoring systems used for this study were Muhtaseb (from Moorfields Eye Hospital) and Habib (from Sunderland).
The total number of cases in the study population was 11,913. There were 27 complicated cases from 2001, 36 from 2002 and 32 from 2003. Muhtaseb’s system is based on a Medline review of literature, while Habib’s system is based on a questionnaire to ophthalmic consultants in which risk factors predisposing to intraoperative complications were ranked.
“Both of these scoring systems can easily be applied in clinical practice and are of practical use in the selection of cases for trainee surgeons,” the researchers said. Should ophthalmologists use either system, “it would be appropriate to consider posterior polar cataracts and traumatic cataracts on their own merits.”
The study is published in the March issue of British Journal of Ophthalmology.