Study finds greater risk of cataract surgery complications in uveitis patients

Key highlights of the research:

• Prior to cataract surgery, patients had a median uveitis duration of 3.0 years and a median interval of quiescence of 1.0 years.
• The two most typical additional procedures were reported to be vision blue (18.1%) and a posterior synechiae peel (32.3%).
• In 6.8% of the eyes, intraoperative complications occurred.
• By 12 months after surgery, 79.7% of patients had vision that was 20/50 or better, and the most frequent postoperative consequence was uveitis flare (56.5%).
• The researchers showed using Cox proportional-hazards analysis that quiescent time was linked to a lower chance of flare (hazard ratio, 0.794).
• 9.6% of eyes experienced postoperative CME, although the researchers were unable to find any reliable predictors of it in the multivariate study.

Given how quickly uveitis-related cataracts can develop, the researchers state that "earlier surgical intervention in uveitic cataracts has been proposed to reduce the greater surgical risk and challenges caused by advanced cataracts, as well as to avoid missing posterior segment disease activity and subsequent appropriate intervention," added the researchers.

The authors concluded that despite the low risk of intraoperative complications when the procedure is carried out by skilled surgeons, thorough postoperative monitoring for uveitis relapse and CME development is required because to the possibility of difficulties lasting longer than six months.

REFERENCE

Al-Ani HH, Sims JL, Niederer RL. Cataract surgery in uveitis: risk factors, outcomes and complications [published online ahead of print, 2022 Aug 21]. Am J Ophthalmol. 2022;S0002-9394(22)00314-2. doi:10.1016/j.ajo.2022.0