Cataract surgery in anticoagulated patients

A prospective study was performed on 31 patients having planned extracapsular cataract extraction with posterior chamber intraocular lens implantation. The patients were considered to be anticoagulated because of the medications they were taking. The patients were instructed to continue their usual medications throughout the perioperative period including the day of surgery. All patients had routine narcoleptic sedation and retrobulbar anesthesia. The surgical technique was altered to use an inferior corneal traction suture and a single planed clear corneal incision. No intraoperative or postoperative anterior chamber bleeding was seen. The observed complications were increased awareness of corneal sutures, increased endothelial cell loss, delayed visual rehabilitation from with-the-rule astigmatism, and transient corneal edema. All patients achieved 20/40 or better visual acuity without corneal edema by three months post-surgery.