Pediatric cataract surgery in National Eye Centre Kaduna, Nigeria: outcome and challenges

To assess the outcomes of congenital/developmental cataract from a tertiary eye care hospital in Northwest Nigeria.

A retrospective chart review was performed of all patients diagnosed with congenital or developmental cataract who underwent surgery from January 2008 to December 2009. Data were collected on patient demographics, preoperative characteristics, intraoperative complications, and postoperative outcomes as well as complications.

A total of 181 eyes of 102 patients underwent surgery. There were 95 (52.5%) right eyes. There were 64 (62.7%) males. The mean age of the patients was 6.88 ± 7.97 years. Fifty-four (51.3%) patients were below 3 years old. Most (62%) patients had congenital cataract with a history of onset within the first year of life [39 (62.9%) patients]. Amblyopia, nystagmus, and strabismus were the most frequent ocular comorbidities accounting for 50.3%, 36.5%, and 35.4% of eyes respectively. The majority (84.3%) of the patients had surgery within 6 months of presentation. All patients underwent manual small incision cataract surgery (MSICS). Seventy-nine (77.5%) patients underwent simultaneous bilateral surgery. Intraocular lens implantation was performed in 83.4% eyes. The most common early and late postoperative complication was, posterior capsular opacity which occurred in 65 eyes of 43 children. In these cases, moderate visual acuity was predominant visual outcome.

Treatment of pediatric cataract in our setting is complicated by demographic factors which results in late presentation and consequently, late treatment of children. Short-term visual outcome is fair. Data on long term postoperative outcomes could not be acquired due to poor follow-up.