Visual Prognosis of Intraocular Lens Implantation in Cases of Traumatic Cataract in a Tertiary Care Hospital, Ganjam

Abstract

BACKGROUND Traumatic cataract is one of the common sequelae following ocular injury. It is one of the leading causes of preventable blindness. Ocular trauma leading to traumatic cataract, if managed early gives good visual outcome. Associated ocular structure involvement has much bearing on the management and prognosis of traumatic cataract. We wanted to study the visual outcome of cataract surgery in traumatic cataract. METHODS All patients included in this prospective study were subjected complete ocular examination, intra ocular lens (IOL) power calculation and small incision cataract surgery (SICS) with IOL implantation. Visual outcome was assessed after 1st week, 2 nd week, 6th week and 6 months. Postoperative visual outcome and post-operative complications were assessed. RESULTS Out of 50 cases studied, 56 % of cases were in the age group of less than 20 years. Male: Female ratio was 2.57 : 1. Traumatic cataract was higher in patients of rural background as compared to urban background (64 % vs 32 %). In 58 % of cases, penetrating injury was the type of trauma. 60 % of patients had visual acuity of less than 3/60 at presentation. Corneal injuries (34 %), scleral tear in (22 %) and iris related problems (18 %) were the most common associated findings. All the patients were treated with SICS with IOL implantation. Most common intra-operative complication was posterior capsule rupture seen in 14 % of cases, 34 % of patients had anterior uveitis as early post-operative complication and 24 % of patients developed PCO as late post-operative complication; 68 % of the patients achieved visual acuity of above 6/18. CONCLUSIONS Timely management and involvement of other structures in traumatic cataract determines the visual prognosis of cataract surgery in traumatic cataract. Thus, our study showed that traumatic cataract can be successfully managed surgically with intraocular lens implantation with good visual outcome, unless there is associated corneal opacity or posterior segment involvement. More emphasis should be laid on the preventive measures like mass health education and awareness about risk of ocular trauma, and need to adopt safety measures should be focused, especially during playground, and at workplace. KEYWORDS Traumatic Cataract, Small Incision Cataract Surgery, IOL, Visual Acuity