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Updated: Nov 8, 2025
Full-Circle Cauterization of Limbal Vascular Plexus for Surgically Induced Glaucoma in Rodents
Published on: February 15, 2022
No significant retinal damage induced by major orthopedic surgery - a pilot study
Tomas Parizek1,2,3, Roman Skulec1,4,5,6, Ivana Liehneova7
1Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative Medicine and Intensive Care, J.E. Purkinje University, Masaryk Hospital Usti nad Labem, Socialni pece 3316/12A, Usti nad Labem 400 11, Czech Republic.
Background:
Perioperative visual loss is one of the rare but devastating complications of anesthesia and surgery. The incidence of less severe or even subclinical postoperative visual dysfunction is unknown. Therefore, we decided to perform a pilot prospective observational clinical study to evaluate whether structural changes of the retina can be detected in patients undergoing elective orthopaedic surgery by optical coherence tomography (OCT).
Methods:
Adult patients indicated for elective knee replacement surgery with the absence of known retinal or optic nerve disease were included. Each patient underwent baseline OCT examination of the eyes one day before surgery and it was repeated 4-7 days after the surgery. The surgery was done under general and epidural anesthesia.
Results:
A total of 18 patients (6 men and 12 women) at the age of 70.8±7.1 years were enrolled. We found statistically significant changes in the Macular central thickness and in a few areas of the Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer between the baseline and postoperative measurements.
Conclusions:
Even though we found significant changes in some parameters, we did not confirm that general anesthesia and/or surgical damage causes significant damage of the retina using OCT measurement.
Trial Registration:
ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04311801).
