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Two materials equally effective in inhibiting PCO in sharp-edged IOLs
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Hydrophobic acrylic and silicone IOLs with a rectangular, sharp optic edge were similarly effective in hindering the development of posterior capsule opacification, according to a clinical study. The PCO intensity and the rate of posterior capsulotomy were low in patients with both types of IOLs at 3 years after implantation, the study authors found.
Oliver Findl, MD, and colleagues randomized 56 eyes of 28 patients with cataracts to receive a silicone IOL in one eye and a hydrophobic acrylic IOL in the fellow eye. Both IOL designs featured sharp, truncated posterior optic edges. The patients were evaluated at 1 and 3 years after surgery.
At both follow-up time points, the amount of PCO as measured by automated image analysis did not differ between the silicone and acrylic IOLs. The researchers also did not notice any changes in best corrected visual acuity, rhexis/IOL overlap, capsular folds or the amount of anterior capsular opacification during the follow-up period.
The study authors said that, because the two lenses were “very comparable” in their design, “differences found in this study should be interpreted primarily as an optic material effect.”
In the presence of a rectangular sharp optic edge, the study authors said, both materials were similarly effective in inhibiting PCO.
“For hydrophobic materials, edge design seems to play a more important role in PCO inhibition than the optic material. It remains to be shown that this also holds true for hydrophilic acrylic materials,” the authors said.
The study appears in the January issue of Ophthalmology.