Laser system shows promise for cataract surgery

A new laser system designed to perform four incisions, the Catalys Precision Laser system, from OptiMedica has been shown to help surgeons achieve significant improvement in precision during several critical steps of cataract surgery. This data will be published in Science Translational Medicine.

The study was led by Dr Daniel Palanker from the Stanford University School of Medicine (USA) and revealed the new system's ability to perform capsulotomy, lens fragmentation, relaxing incisions and cataract incisions in 29 laser-treated eyes compared with 30 manually treated eyes. It was found that there was a 12-fold improvement in precision of sizing and a 5-fold improvement in capsulotomy shape. More than a 2-fold improvement in capsulotomy strength was realised in addition to a 40% reduction in the use of ultrasound energy during phacoemulsification.

"The results were much better in a number of ways - increasing safety, improving precision and reproducibility and standardizing the procedure," emphasized Dr Palanker. "Many medical residents are fearful of doing capsulorhexis, and it can be challenging to learn. This new approach could make this procedure less dependent on surgical skill and allow for greater consistency."

Based on the results it was concluded that the Catalys Precision Laser system shows great improvement across the four incision steps for cataract surgery.