Refractive growth variability in the Infant Aphakia Treatment Study

Area of Science:

• Ophthalmology
• Pediatric ophthalmology
• Refractive error research

Background:

• Predicting refractive outcomes after pediatric cataract surgery is challenging due to variability in refractive growth.
• The Infant Aphakia Treatment Study provides longitudinal data crucial for understanding these outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the rate of refractive growth (RRG3) in aphakic and pseudophakic eyes with their fellow normal eyes.
• To analyze the variance in RRG3 in children following unilateral cataract surgery.

Main Methods:

• A randomized clinical trial involving infants undergoing unilateral cataract extraction.
• Biometric data (axial length, keratometry) were collected at surgery and 10 years of age.
• Variance in RRG3 was compared between normal, aphakic, and pseudophakic eyes using statistical analysis.

Main Results:

• Longitudinal data from 103 patients were analyzed.
• The variance in RRG3 was significantly higher in operated eyes (aphakic and pseudophakic) compared to normal eyes (P < .0001).
• Variance in axial length growth also differed significantly between operated and normal eyes (P < .0001).

Conclusions:

• The standard deviation of RRG3 in normal eyes was half that observed in eyes after cataract surgery.
• Increased variance in refractive growth in operated eyes presents a significant challenge for refractive prediction in pediatric aphakia and pseudophakia.