Abstract :
Background: Posterior capsule opacification (PCO) is a one of the important complications of cataract surgery. Nd:YAG is used for the treatment of posterior capsular opacification with very good outcome. Aim of this study was to analyse the improvement of visual acuity after PCO and also to estimate the total laser energy required to perform capsulotomy.
Materials and Methods: 129 patients between the ages of 35 to 85 years, who had a successful cataract surgery and complained of failing vision after a period of time of the surgery. PCO was graded and pre and post visual acuity was taken and compared. Nd:YAG laser capsulotomy was done for all patients.
Results: Majority of patients (31.8%) had opacification between 6-12 months after surgery. 38 patients had PCO between 13-18 months, while 26 patients had in between 19-24 months after surgery. 12 patients had PCO before 6 months interval after the cataract surgery. After the laser treatment, only 2 patients showed not much improvement, while most of the patients showed a marked improvement of a visual acuity of 6/6-6/12 in 88 (68.2%) of the patients, while 39 (30.2%) showed 6/18 – 6/24 visual acuity. Most common complication of Nd:YAG laser capsulotomy was elevated intraocular pressure.
Conclusion: Nd:YAG laser capsulotomy is found to be a very easy and non-invasive procedure to treat posterior capsular opacification. It is found to be very effective and safe to perform with very few complications.
Keyword :
Cataract, NdYAG, Posterior capsular opacification.