Outcomes and Complications Rate of Resident versus Attending Performed Eye Muscle Surgeries

Purpose: to compare the type, complications rate, and success rate of eye muscle surgeries performed by residents to those performed by attending consultants. Methods: A retrospective review was done on the charts of all children who underwent an eye muscle surgery in Cairo University Hospital during the period from January 2015 to December 2017. Preoperative data including age, sex, and type of deviation were tabulated. Details of the operative procedure including the surgeon, the type of eye muscle surgery, the number of muscles operated upon, perioperative complications, and the final ocular alignment at the end of the third month after surgery were recorded. Results: A total of 319 patients were included; 143 patients (315 muscles) in the supervised resident group and 176 patients (387 muscles) in the attending group. More vertical and oblique muscles surgeries were done by the attending consultants than by residents. Surgical success after three months was higher in the attending group (n = 126, 72%) than the resident group (n = 91, 64%). However, the difference was not statistically significant (P = .129). The perioperative complications rate was significantly higher (P = .004) in the resident group (14%) than the attending group (6%). Accidental scleral perforation was the most commonly encountered complication in the resident group (n = 6, 1.9%) followed by extruded/exposed Tenon (n = 5, 1.6%), and muscle slippage (n = 4, 1.3%). Conclusions: Success rate is similar in eye muscle surgeries performed by residents and attending consultants. However, perioperative complications are still more common among residents.