[Cataract surgery and intraocular lens implantation in patients with Behçet's disease]

To evaluate the outcome of cataract surgery in patients with Behçet's disease.

The results of 27 eyes of 19 patients with Behçet's disease that had undergone cataract surgery with or without intraocular lens implantation from October 1993 to December 1996 were retrospectively analyzed. The postoperative follow-up period ranged from 13 to 50 months (average, 28 months).

Visual acuity improved postoperatively in 25 eyes, to 20/40 or better in 9 eyes. In 19 eyes, ocular attacks were seen within the preoperative 6 months in 2 eyes, and within the postoperative 6 months in 8 eyes. In 8 eyes, the first ocular attacks occurred within 2 months after the surgery. The frequency of ocular attacks increased after the surgery in 7 patients who received immunosuppressive a gents, with relatively short duration of the disease.

These results suggest that the frequency of ocular attacks increases after cataract surgery in some patients who use immunosuppressive agents for controlling ocular attacks, even though they had no inflammatory history for a long period before the surgery.