IOP elevation not harmful in glaucoma patients undergoing femtosecond cataract surgery

PARIS — IOP elevation produced by suction during femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery is transient and has no negative effects in patients with glaucoma, according to a study.

While several studies have been done on IOP elevation in young patients during femtosecond LASIK, data on femtosecond cataract in older people, with or without glaucoma, are lacking, Ianis Marcireau, MD, said at the meeting of the French Society of Ophthalmology.

Ianis Marcireau

“Our study was a randomized, prospective study carried out between October 2014 and January 2015. Each patient had femtosecond laser-assisted surgery using the Victus femtosecond laser (Bausch + Lomb) in one eye and conventional phacoemulsification in the other eye,” he said.

IOP was measured before, during and after suction with a portable Perkins device and re-measured after surgery at 1 week and 1 month. Spectral-domain OCT was used preoperatively and 1 month after surgery to evaluate ganglion cell changes.

Twenty-five eyes of 19 patients were included, 12 eyes with glaucoma and 13 eyes without glaucoma. A significant pressure increase was observed during suction, in some cases for a relatively long time. Mean suction time was 5 minutes, up to 9 minutes in some cases.

“There was quite a lot of time variability in between patients, likely depending on the learning curve,” Marcireau said.

However, no difference in IOP before and after suction was reported, and no significant difference was found at day 7 and 1 month, he said.

SD-OCT observation of the ganglion cell layer also showed no difference before and after the procedure, and no variation of macular thickness was reported. - by Michela Cimberle

Disclosure: Marcireau reports no relevant financial disclosures.