Fibrin reaction after extracapsular cataract extraction: a statistical evaluation

As part of a retrospective study, 1056 eyes of 940 patients who had undergone extracapsular cataract surgery and posterior chamber IOL implantation were studied using statistical methods (chi-squared test). We studied the presence of fibrin reaction in three subgroups: diabetics without retinopathy (102 eyes), previously operated for primary open angle glaucoma "POAG" (78 eyes) and exfoliation syndrome without glaucoma (43 eyes). The results were compared for these three groups and for a group of normal individuals. The incidence of fibrin reaction was 13.7% in the diabetics, 44.8% in the group of previously operated POAG and 27.9% in the group of exfoliation syndrome without glaucoma. All the groups studied had this complication much more often than the controls (p < 0.0001). The incidence among previously operated eyes for POAG was higher than in diabetic eyes without retinopathy (p < 0.0005) and in exfoliation syndrome without glaucoma eyes (0.05 < p < 0.1). Fibrin reaction was more common in exfoliation syndrome without glaucoma than in diabetic eyes without retinopathy (p < 0.05).