Purpose:
To compare the safety and efficacy of bimanual microincision cataract surgery (MICS) and conventional phacoemulsification surgery performed in cataracts with hard nuclei.
Methods:
Between September 2005 and March 2006, MICS (Group 1) and conventional phaco (Group 2) were performed in 60 eyes of 60 patients. Patients with hard cataracts (grade 3-4) were grouped randomly (both groups had 30 eyes) for the type of surgery. Patients were examined for intraoperative complications, mean phaco time, total phaco %, effective phaco time (EPT), %endothelial cell loss, postoperative corneal edema, anterior chamber reactions and mean uncorrected and best corrected visual acuities.. The safety and the efficacy of the systems were evaluated by the statistical analysis of surgical outcomes.
Results:
The mean US time, total phaco % and EPT were 132.20 seconds, 9.35% and 11.74 secs for G1 and 132.36 seconds, 8.41% and 10.69 secs for G2. The mean postoperative percentages of the endothelial cell losses were 8.5% for G1 and 8.6% for G2. The mean early postoperative uncorrected visual acuity and late postoperative best corrected visual acuity were 0.57 and 0.91 in snellen chart for G1 and 0.51 and 0.87 for G2. Mostly no or mild corneal edema and anterior chamber reactions were observed.
Conclusion:
With the increased experience in bimanual technique and by the aid of adequate modern surgical systems MICS could be performed as safe and efficient as conventional phacoemulsification in cases with hard cataracts.
Keywords: Bimanual microincision cataract surgery, hard nucleus, Conventioanal phacoemulsification