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Topical anesthesia sufficient for cataract surgery

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Topical anesthesia appears to provide patients with sufficient protection from pain during phacoemulsification performed by resident surgeons, according to a study by researchers in Turkey.

Mustafa Ünal, MD, and colleagues at Akdeniz University Medical Faculty compared Visual Analog Scale-measured intraoperative pain scores reported by 76 consecutive patients who underwent 81 cataract surgeries involving topical anesthesia. An experienced surgeon performed surgery in 41 eyes and two residents performed surgery in 40 eyes, according to the study.

Neither sedation nor intracameral anesthesia was used in either group, the authors noted.

The overall pain score averaged 1.59 for patients treated by the experienced surgeon and averaged 1.95 for patients treated by the residents (P = .291). The maximum perceived pain score averaged 2.39 for patients treated by the experienced surgeon and 2.53 for patients treated by the residents (P = .734), according to the study.

Investigators found no significant correlation between the length of surgery and overall pain score (P = .365), the authors noted.

The study is published in the September/October issue of Ophthalmic Surgery, Lasers & Imaging.