Cataract surgery may induce more corneal higher-order aberrations in eyes with high vs. low pre-existing astigmatism

Eyes with high pre-existing corneal astigmatism exhibited greater ocular and corneal higher-order aberrations after cataract surgery than eyes with low pre-existing astigmatism, a study found.

“These results suggest that the optical quality after cataract surgery may be worse in eyes with high pre-existing corneal astigmatism than in eyes with low pre-existing astigmatism,” the study authors said.

The case-control study involved 48 eyes with pre-existing corneal astigmatism of 1D or greater implanted with a toric IOL, 42 eyes with 1D or greater astigmatism implanted with a non-toric IOL; and 42 eyes with less than 1D astigmatism implanted with a non-toric IOL. The mean patient age was 69 years.

Follow-up was conducted at 3 and 6 months postop.

Mean ocular total higher-order aberrations were significantly greater in the toric and non-toric IOL high-astigmatism groups than in the low-astigmatism group at 3 months and 6 months (P = .0365).

The authors said that further study is warranted to analyze the impact of the toric component of the IOL on ocular higher-order aberrations, especially when there is a significant axis misalignment.

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Source:

J Cataract Refract Surg. 2012;38(7):1156-1165.