Journal of cataract and refractive surgery | 2021
Thrombocytopenia and Clear Corneal Incision Cataract Surgery.
Abstract
PURPOSE-\nTo investigate complications and outcomes of clear corneal incision cataract surgery in patients with thrombocytopenia.\n\n\nSETTING-\nOne veterans hospital and two academic medical centers DESIGN-: Multi-center retrospective chart review.\n\n\nMETHODS-\nAll eyes of thrombocytopenic patients that underwent clear corneal incision cataract surgery with a platelet count ≤100 x 10/µl measured ≤30 days prior to surgery were included. Subject demographics, intraoperative complications, use of pupil expansion devices, use of local anesthetic injections, and change in best corrected visual acuity were recorded.\n\n\nRESULTS-\nThree sites recorded 40,113 clear corneal incision cataract surgeries, of which 0.49% (196 eyes) were performed on 150 thrombocytopenic patients. The mean platelet count in the study subjects was 73.0x10/µl ± 20.5x10/µl. Two cases of intraoperative iris hemorrhage which were readily controlled occurred in conjunction with pupillary expansion. There were no bleeding complications associated with retrobulbar, peribulbar, or sub-Tenon anesthetic injections. There was a statistically significant improvement (p <0.0001) in visual acuity postoperatively.\n\n\nCONCLUSION-\nClear corneal incision cataract surgery with pupillary expansion devices and local anesthetic injections can be safely performed in patients with thrombocytopenia.