Resident extracapsular cataract surgery: results and a comparison of automated and manual techniques

We retrospectively evaluated 414 faculty-supervised extracapsular cataract extractions performed by ten second and third-year residents. In 94% of the cases without preexisting eye disease 20/40 or better vision was achieved. The most frequent postoperative complication, occurring in 17% of the cases, was a transient rise in intraocular pressure. Late postoperative wound dehiscence occurred in seven cases (1.7%), often associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or trauma. There was no statistically significant difference in visual outcome or in the rates of the most frequent complications in the 260 automated as opposed to the 121 manual cortical removal cases. In particular, there was no difference in the rates of vitreous loss, although posterior capsule tears tended to occur more often in the manual group (P = 0.084).