Macular recovery after phacoemulsification

In a presentation during the Complex Cases session at the annual ESCRS congress in Vienna, Austria, Dr Dušica Pahor (Department of Ophthalmology, University Clinical Centre Maribor, Slovenia Faculty of Medicine, Slovenia) revealed why there is a need to continue studying the recovery of a patient's macular post-cataract surgery.

The method

Evaluation of the macular thickness and volume were performed using the Stratus OCT (Carl Zeiss Meditec Ophthalmic Systems Inc., Dublin, California, USA) and measurements were taken 1-day preop and then 1-day, 1-, 3- and 6-months postop. "We used a 'Fast Macular Thickness Map' scan protocol to obtain six macular scans that were 6 mm long and centred on the fovea equally set at 30° apart," explained Dr Pahor. "We imaged nine regions of the macular, the fovea (F), temporal inner macula (TIM), superior inner macula (SIM), nasal inner macula (NIM), inferior inner macula (IIM), temporal outer macula (TOM), superior outer macula (SOM), nasal outer macula (NOM) and inferior outer macula (IOM)." The statistical analysis was performed using the SPSS for Windows 19.0.

Further to this Dr Pahor explained that a complete ophthalmic evaluation was performed on all patients postoperatively. "OCT measurements were taken in the foveal and perifoveal regions 3-months postop and compared with those taken at 1-month post-op," she said.