Aanchal Priya1, Sunil Kumar2, Seema Singh3
BACKGROUND
Immediate sequential bilateral cataract surgery (ISBCS) is the procedure in which
both eyes are simultaneously operated in a single hospital visit. The onset of
corona virus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic has raised the interest among
ophthalmic surgeon in considering immediate sequential bilateral cataract surgery
to reduce hospital visit of patients. This study was done to assess the
intraoperative and post-operative complications and average number of hospital
visits required after performing immediate sequential bilateral cataract surgery in
COVID-19 pandemic. Also, the post-operative visual outcomes were evaluated.
METHODS
Patients with visually significant bilateral cataract with best corrected visual acuity
≤ 6/18 in better eye, axial length within range of 21 - 25 mm and age >18 years
with no ocular and systemic co-morbidity were included in the study. All patients
underwent immediate sequential bilateral cataract surgery from July 2020 to
September 2020. Strict intraoperative protocols were followed in all cases.
Intracameral injection of 0.1 ml moxifloxacin 0.5 % (vigamox / Novartis health
care Pvt Ltd. Texas, USA) was given at the end of surgery in all cases.
Intraoperative and post-operative complications, visual and refractive outcomes
were analysed.
RESULTS
Sixty-four eyes of 32 patients with mean age 55 ± 2.82 years (range: 48 - 71
years) were included in the study. The mean pre-operative best corrected visual
acuity was 0.64 ± 0.08 logarithm of minimum angle of resolution which improved
significantly to 0.03 ± 0.03 at the end of second follow up on day 14 (P < 0.0001).
The mean post-operative spherical equivalent was -0.22 ± 0.48 D. The target
refraction within ± 0.50 D was achieved in 56 eyes (87.50 %) and within ± 1.0 D
in all eyes. No vision threatening complications such as endophthalmitis, cystoid
macular oedema, retinal detachment or corneal decompensation occurred in any
of eyes. Total hospital visits were reduced to four per patients for both eye
surgeries.
CONCLUSIONS
Immediate sequential bilateral cataract surgery may be considered as preferred
practice in selected cases to reduce the risk of cross infection of COVID-19 by
short hospitalization and less follow up visits.
