Abbreviations:
CA = cortical anterior type lens opacity
PSC = posterior subcapsular type lens opacity
UV = ultraviolet
ECCE = extracapsular cataract extraction
PCL = posterior chamber lens
ACL = anterior chamber lens
ICCE = intracapsular cataract extraction
Phaco = phacoemulsification
Abstract:
In the past fifteen years the technique of cataract surgery has made
a great improvement. ECCE+PCL has become the leading cataract extraction
procedure (>80%) in the 1st Ophthalmology Department of the Semmelweis
University of Medicine, Budapest since 1992. The number of cataract extractions
tripled between 1987–1996. Change in the technique of cataract surgery
may have not been the only cause of the increase. A follow-up study was
proposed (Szabó, J. et al., 1998) to assess the possible
health effect of increasing ambient ultraviolet insulation on the eye.
During 1997 the number of cataract extractions continued to increase (a
total of 1783). The leading surgical technique was ECCE+PCL (80%). The
mean age of all patients was 67 years. There were 8% of Phaco+PCL extractions
and their number has more than doubled in 1997 compared to the previous
year. The mean age of patients by whom Phaco+PCL was performed (56 years)
was much less than the peak giving ECCE+PCL (69 years). Suppose the trends
above persist, a significant increase of Phaco+PCL extractions would cause
a shift of mean age towards a younger age, due to patient selection, until
it becomes a routine technique. Preliminary analysis of 105 patients with
Phaco+PCL extraction (patients with mainly PSC opacity regarding the worse
eye) suggests multiple etiology. Our findings in the 1st Ohthalmology Dept.
of the Semmelweis University of Medicine closely matches the national trend
of cataract surgeries regarding the involvement of only females in the
continous increase of surgeries (Szabó, J., publ. in progr.)
| Received: 06 July 1998
Accepted: 11 September 1998 Posted: 19 November 1998 |
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