Ninety-seven eyes from 79 patients that underwent cataract surgery at the King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital performed by a single surgeon (KB) with monofocal or multifocal IOL implantation were enrolled in this prospective nonrandomized study. The Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, has approved the study.
Inclusion criteria were scheduled cataract patients over 18 years who underwent cataract surgery by phacoemulsification and femtosecond laser assisted phacoemulsification with non-toric monofocal and multifocal IOL implantation within the bag. All cases were planned to have an estimated refraction close to plano (0 diopter). Exclusion criteria were patients who have limitation of using the IOL Master®700 (Densely opacities media/mature cataract), conditions that was not suitable for using intraoperative aberrometry (corneal scar, small pupil size less than 5.0 mm., macular and retinal abnormality, inability to fix intraoperative aberrometry aiming beam, etc), previous refractive surgery history, intraoperative complications (ruptured posterior capsule, dropped nucleus, etc) and inability to complete all postoperative examinations during each follow up at approximately 1 day, 1 month.
Once the informed consent was obtained, each eye was completely examined by slit lamp and auto kerato-refractometer (Auto Kerato-refractometer KR-800; Topcon Co, Tokyo, Japan) under standard preoperative assessment. During the first visit each preoperative biometry was measured with the IOL Master®700 before any ocular contacts such as mydriatric and other topical drugs instillation. In this study the SRK/T suggested IOL power and the estimated postoperative refraction that targeting emmetropia from the preoperative biometry was chosen in all cases and represented as the IOL master 700 calculated or chosen power.
On the operating day each eye was routinely prepared with topical antibiotic (0.5%Moxifloxacin eye drop 1 drop every 15 minutes for 1hour preoperatively), mydriatric drug (1% Tropicamide eye drop 1 drop every 15 minutes for 1hour preoperatively). All surgeries were performed under topical anesthesia (0.5% Tetracaine eye drop 1 drop every 10 minutes for half an hour preoperatively). Each eye was also prepared with the same technique by draping with Opsite™ (Smith & Nephew, Hull, UK) and using the Lieberman adjustable temporal speculum size ( E40-100 adult size; PMS, Germany) in order not to apply excessive pressure to the eye. Phacoemulsification was performed with temporal clear corneal incision (2.75 mm wound size) technique. The incision site was approximately aligned at 180˚. The 2 side-port were opened by using 1 mm. slit knife at 90 and 225 degree respectively. The circular capsulorrhexis size aiming 5.5 mm was created by no.27 needle tip in all cases under Provisc® (Provisc® ; Alcon, Tx, USA). The standard phacoemulsification with vertical chopped technique was used in all cases.
In the Femtosecond laser assisted cataract surgery (FLACS) group, the treatment was performed with the LenSx laser (Alcon Laboratories, Fort Worth, TX, USA). Each eye was prepped as Phacoemulsification group. After completely docking of the laser-patient interface, spectral domain optical coherence tomography imaging of the anterior segment was performed. Images of the intraocular structures were automatically identified. The surgeon carefully confirmed each step of the procedure with the safety margins. After that, the laser treatment was started with creating a 5.50 mm capsulotomy and lens fragmentation (pattern: 2 concentric cylinders and 8 segment cuts) without corneal incision. After femtosecond laser precut was completed, phacoemulsification was performed using the Centurion Vision System (Alcon Laboratories). The main incisions and side-port were opened with a blade as conventional phacoemulsification. The cohesive ophthalmic viscosurgical device (OVD) (Provisc, Alcon Laboratories) was injected into the anterior chamber to protect the endothelium. The anterior capsule was removed with Utrata forceps (Katena Products, Denville, NJ) and was followed by sterilized balance salt solution (BSS) hydrodissection. The surgery was then completed with standard phacoemulsification procedure with vertical chopped technique.
After the lens nucleus and cortex were removed, we inflated Provisc® to maintain the ocular volume. During the ORA measurement, the Provisc® was used as the ophthalmic viscoelastic device (OVD) of choice for maintaining normotensive level of eye pressure during the measurement in all cases. The IOP checked with a Barraquer tonometer was not to exceed 20 mmHg before start measured with the ORA. The ORA system® with VerifEye™ was measured once in the aphakic stage to derive the suggested IOL power and estimated postoperative refraction in all cases and represented as the ORA suggested IOL power. All eyes were implanted with preoperative chosen foldable monofocal IOL and multifocal IOL power suggested by IOL Master®700 in the bag due to the ethical considerations. Wounds ware closed with corneal stromal hydration. All patients had standard routine postoperative follow up.
The suggested IOL power and the estimated refraction (EST) from both devices were collected. We also collected the postoperative auto refraction (Auto Kerato-Refractometer KR-800; Topcon Co, Tokyo, Japan) results at approximately 1 day, and 1 month for determining the accuracy of both devices. The UCVA and BCVA of the eyes at each visit were collected.
Bland Altman analysis was used to find the agreement between them. Subgroup analysis in eyes with the same IOL power reading from both devices were analyzed. The predicted estimated refraction of implanted IOL power from both devices were compared with the one-month postoperative Spherical equivalent from auto-keratorefractometer.