Fibrous membrane formation at the capsular margin in capsule contraction syndrome

To determine whether the pathogenesis of capsule contraction syndrome involves the outgrowth of the fibrous membrane from the anterior capsule margin.

Department of Ophthalmology, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, and the Ando Eye Clinic, Kanagawa, Japan.

A retrospective review of medical records and slitlamp photographs was conducted in 12 eyes (10 patients) that had required treatment for a narrowed anterior capsule opening after cataract surgery. All patients had had continuous curvilinear capsulorhexis and phacoemulsification with implantation of an intraocular lens in the capsular bag. Specimens of surgically removed fibrous membrane were examined by histopathological methods.

Fibrous membrane on the inner surface of the anterior capsule and the linear folds of the anterior capsule were present in each eye. In 10 eyes of 8 patients, the fibrous membrane was on the outer surface of the anterior capsule and covered the capsular folds at its margin. Pathological study showed that this fibrous membrane consisted of the flattened lens epithelial cells that proliferated on the inner and outer surfaces of the shrunken anterior capsule. The outgrowth of this membrane from the margin of the anterior capsule to the center of the opening of the anterior capsule was noted.

In this study, capsule contraction syndrome involved contraction of the fibrous membrane as well as its outgrowth from the capsule margin.