Causes of enucleation following cataract surgery

Between the years 1962 and 1976 85 eyes which had undergone cataract surgery were accessioned to the Ophthalmic Pathology Laboratory of the Helsinki University Eye Hospital. The specimens were submitted from the various eye departments of the country. Of these 8k eyes nine had been enucleated within 2 months after surgery while in 64 cases the enucleation had been performed more than 12 months after surgery. 40 eyes had had an attempted operation for senile cataract, 30 eyes for traumatic cataract while the remaining cases were congenital cataract cases or cataracts in pre-existing glaucomatous or chronic uveitis eyes. Most frequent causes for the loss of the eyes were related to incomplete or abnormal healing of the operative wound such as epithelial down-growth and closure of the chamber angle with extensive anterior synechiae leading to absolute glaucoma. It is noteworthy that all cases of epithelial downgrowth were derived from the beginning of the observation period. No new cases were obtained after 1969. Other important causes were purulent endophthalmitis and retinal detachment. Haemosiderosis was a prominent cause in the group with traumatic cataract. A careful histopathological analysis of eyes enucleated after cataract surgery is mandatory as it is from the complications we learn most in cataract surgery.