Visual outcomes of cataract surgery: An observational study of ten years from a tertiary eye care hospital in Pakistan

• Published in: Pakistan journal of medical sciences 2021-12, Vol.37 (7), p.1775-1781
• Main Authors: Ahsan, Shahid, Memon, Muhammad Saleh, Bukhari, Sadia, Mahmood, Tauseef, Fahim, Muhammad Faisal, Haseeb, Uzma, Arslan, Muhammad
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Age groups; Blindness; Cataract; Cataracts; Eye surgery; Gender; Health aspects; Hospitals; Observational studies; Original; Patients; Surgeons; Surgery; Visual impairment
• ISSN: 1682-024X; 1681-715X
• DOI: 10.12669/pjms.37.7.4428

To observe and analyze the visual outcomes of cataract surgery of ten years at a tertiary eye care hospital, Karachi. An observational study with retrospective data search was conducted in Al Ibrahim Eye Hospital (AIEH), Karachi. Data of all adults (above 16 years) who underwent cataract surgery from 2010-2019 was retrieved from HIMS. Presence of opacity in the lens was labelled as cataract. Surgery was advised when patient's BCVA was found to be ≤ 6/18. Visual assessments of the patients were done on day 01, one week and six weeks postoperatively. Postoperatively, 6/6 - 6/12 was considered as good, 6/18 as mild visual impairment, < 6/18 to 6/60 as moderate visual impairment and < 6/60 as severe visual impairment. A total of 1,027,840 patients visited AIEH with different eye diseases. Among 1027840 individuals, cataract was identified in 88443 (8.6%). Surgery was advised to 58371 and performed in 38616. Records of operated cases (38616) were retrieved. Mean age of patients was 54.96±14.22 years. There were 20578 (53.29%) males and 18038 (46.71%) females who underwent surgery . At the end of sixth week, 3561 (18.4%), patients were found to have "good vision", 12242 (63.43%) had mild visual impairment, 2676 (13.86%) had moderate visual impairment and 822 (4.26%) had severe visual impairment. Corneal Complications was the commonest cause (33.56%) at sixth week. The institution achieved WHO recommended criteria of "good visual outcome" (6/6 to 6/18) of 81.83% which is near to recommended ≥ 90% and severe visual impairment of 4.26%.