[Phaco-aspiration and phaco-emulsification of cataract--personal experience]

The authors present material collected in the course of 10 years of applying the surgical technique of cataract extraction by means of a Cavitron-Kelman model 8000 V. The age of the patients oscillated between 4 months and 80 years. Phacoaspiration was performed in 4416 eyes and phacoemulsification in 2195 eyes. Following intraoperative complications were observed during surgery; rupture of the posterior lens capsule occurred in 9.75 p.c. of eyes in the course of the phacoaspiration and in 12.4 p.c. of phacoemulsification. The endothelial corneal degeneration occurred after phacoaspiration in 0.13 p.c., after phacoemulsification in 3 p.c. of cases; cystic macular oedema after phacoemulsification in 0.95 p.c. of cases. Visual acuity 5/25 to 5/10 was attained in 47.1 p.c. and visual acuity of 5/10-5/5 in 37.3 p.c. of the eyes. A larger number of complications after phacoemulsification--in spite of the time of application of the ultrasound considered as a safe one--caused a reduction in application of this method.