This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Vitrectorrhexis ‘ideally suited’ for use in pediatric patients, study says
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Managing the anterior lens capsule in pediatric cataract surgery may not be easy, but performing a vitrectorrhexis may help surgeons overcome some of the difficulty, according to a study.
M. Edward Wilson Jr., MD, and colleagues at the Storm Eye Institute evaluated the intraoperative outcomes of various anterior capsulotomy techniques performed on 511 eyes. The techniques analyzed were vitrectorrhexis, manual continuous curvilinear capsulorrhexis (CCC), radiofrequency diathermy, plasma blade and can-opener technique.
Of 339 pseudophakic eyes, intraoperative radial tears developed in 40 eyes. The vitrectorrhexis was used on 221 eyes, 20 of which developed a tear, according to the study. Four of the 15 eyes to undergo radiofrequency diathermy developed a tear, as did 10 of the 94 eyes undergoing CCC; five of the seven eyes undergoing plasma blade; and one of the two eyes undergoing can-opener technique.
The tears were created while 15 eyes underwent anterior capsulotomy, 11 underwent cataract removal, 13 underwent IOL insertion or manipulation and in one eye that underwent posterior capsulotomy.
Researchers said if the patient was younger than age 6 at the time of surgery, the manual CCC technique was more likely to develop a radial tear, compared with children older than age 6 who underwent the same surgery. In patients older than age 6, the vitrectorrhexis technique was more likely to create a radial tear.
Of the 103 eyes that were left aphakic, none developed a radial tear during cataract surgery, according to the study. Preoperative trauma accounted for pre-existing tears in 25 of 68 eyes with traumatic cataract.
The study is published in the Journal of American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus.