[Long-term prognosis of intraocular lens implantation in diabetic patients]

We retrospectively studied 255 eyes of 190 diabetic patients who underwent cataract extraction with posterior chamber intraocular lens (IOL) implantation. One hundred forty-six eyes (57.3%) achieved the best visual acuity of 20/30 or better and 221 eyes (86.7%) achieved the acuity of 20/100 or better. Among 161 eyes that were followed up over 6 months, 26 eyes (16%) showed a progression of the retinopathy. Eight eyes developed proliferative retinopathy from non-proliferative retinopathy. The level of glycosylated hemoglobin of the progression group at the time of surgery was significantly higher than that of the non-progression group (8.0 +/- 2.4% vs 6.8 +/- 1.6%, p < 0.05). Sixty-five patients received IOL implantation in one eye. Of these patients, 10 eyes (15%) showed progression of the retinopathy. Seventy percent of the fellow eyes also showed the progression, where as 95% of the non-progression group did not show progression in the fellow eyes. The results suggested that the progression of diabetic retinopathy after IOL implantation was correlated with diabetic control at the time of surgery. Additionally, patients who developed the progression of the retinopathy in pseudophakic eyes frequently showed the progression in the fellow unoperated eyes.