The Impact of Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Agents after Phacoemulsification on Quality of Life: A Randomized Study

The purpose of our study was to investigate the impact of ketorolac addition to the well-established combination of antibiotic-steroid agent in terms of vision-related quality of life.

Patients were randomized to: (1) fixed combination of tobramycin 0.3%-dexamethasone 0.1%, one drop qid (n = 68) and (2) fixed combination of tobramycin 0.3%-dexamethasone 0.1%, one drop qid, plus ketorolac tromethamine 0.5%, one drop tid (n = 70). All patients completed the VFQ-25 questionnaire to assess their functional vision before cataract surgery and postoperatively on days 7, 28 and 42. The statistical analysis comprised the point-wise comparison between the two groups at the four time points for all sub-scales of the VFQ-25 questionnaire, as well as the composite score.

No significant differences were noted regarding the composite score, as well as all subscales in all examined time points.

The addition of ketorolac did not seem to offer any additional benefit in terms of vision-related quality of life.