Surgical magnification for intracapsular cataract surgery in a rural hospital

Intracapsular cataract extraction is still the most common type of operation performed in India, especially in eye camps, and most of these are done without magnification. To assess the surgical outcome of intracapsular cataract surgery in a rural hospital with various magnifying systems, 121 consecutive eyes (121 patients) with uncomplicated cataract were randomly allocated to surgery with the operating microscope, binocular loupe or unaided eye. The surgery was performed by either consultants or first year residents. The best corrected vision at least four weeks post-operatively was compared among the three groups. The performance between the consultants and the junior residents was also compared. The improvement of surgical outcome with magnification was statistically significant (p = 0.0045); and clinically important with a relative risk reduction of 60.6%. The comparison between microscope and loupe magnification did not show a significant difference (p = 0.24). However, with an operating microscope, the consultants performed significantly better than the junior residents. These findings suggest that the use of magnification in intracapsular cataract extraction provides a definite advantage over an unaided eye and that the binocular loupe is a good alternative to the operating microscope in this kind of surgery.