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[Long-term prospective study of the development of corneal astigmatism in no-stitch cataract surgery]
N Anders1, D T Pham, J Wollensak
1Klinik und Poliklinik für Augenheilkunde, Charité und Virchow Klinikum, Berlin.
Background:
Several studies have confirmed, that the no-stitch technique results in early stabilization of astigmatism. In these papers, however, the follow-up was quite short. Former studies about sutured corneoscleral incisions have shown that even after some years astigmatism increased. Therefore, in this prospective study we investigated the change of induced astigmatism 5 years postoperatively.
Methods:
The prospective study included 66 patients with scleral tunnel incisions who were monitored up to 5 years. Mean age was 74.3 +/- 10.7 years. The incision length of the scleral tunnel was 7 mm. The postoperative astigmatism was measured with keratometry after 1 day, 3 weeks, 1 year and 5 years postoperatively.
Results:
The average postoperative induced astigmatism (PIA) as measured with a keratometer was after 1 year 0.95 +/- 0.83 D. After 5 years PIA was 0.96 +/- 0.48 D, and therefore no significant statistical difference could be shown. At the first postoperative day (0.94 +/- 0.73 D) the induced astigmatism was virtually stable. There was also no statistically significant difference in absolute astigmatism. After 1 day the absolute astigmatism was 0.91 +/- 0.73 D and after 5 years 0.96 +/- 0.61 D.
Conclusions:
The contrast to former sutured corneaoscleral incisions, the no-stitch technique in cataract surgery yields stable postoperative corneal astigmatism.