Clinical Ophthalmology (May 2019)

Evaluation of macular pigment optical density following femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery

  • Verdina T,
  • Date P,
  • Benatti C,
  • Lazzerini A,
  • Fornasari E,
  • De Maria M,
  • Pellacani E,
  • Forlini M,
  • Cavallini GM

Journal volume & issue
Vol. Volume 13
pp. 821 – 828

Abstract

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Tommaso Verdina,1 Purva Date,2 Caterina Benatti,1 Andrea Lazzerini,1 Elisa Fornasari,1 Michele De Maria,3 Elena Pellacani,1 Matteo Forlini,4 Gian Maria Cavallini11Institute of Ophthalmology, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy; 2Aditya Jyot Eye Hospital, Mumbai, India; 3Clinical and Experimental Medicine PhD Program, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy; 4Domus Nova Hospital, Ravenna, ItalyBackground: To evaluate macular pigment optical density (MPOD) after bimanual femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery (FLACS) compared to standard bimanual phacoemulsification (B-MICS).Methods: A prospective, case matched, comparative cohort study conducted at the Institute of Ophthalmology, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (Italy); 30 eyes underwent bimanual FLACS with low-energy Ziemer LDV Z8 (FLACS) and 30 underwent B-MICS standard technique (B-MICS). All interventions were conducted by the same expert surgeon. MPOD using the Macular Pigment Screener II (MPS II) was evaluated at baseline, 7 and 30 days after surgery. As secondary outcomes, we considered best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and central macular thickness (CMT) obtained using optical coherence tomography.Results: In all cases, a BunnyLens AF IOL was safely implanted in the capsular bag through a 1.4 mm incision. We found a significant reduction in MPOD in both groups at 7 and 30 days; 0.16±0.14 and 0.10±0.12 (FLACS) and 0.18±0.13 and 0.15±0.14 (B-MICS), respectively (P<0.05). However, there was no significant difference between the two groups at either 7 (P=0.52) or 30 days (P=0.18). BCVA improved significantly in both groups and CMT increased in both groups (P<0.001, P<0.001, respectively). BCVA and CMT were similar between the groups with a significant difference in CMT in favor of the FLACS group at 30 days (P=0.017).Conclusions: MPOD was reduced in both groups without any significant difference between the FLACS and B-MICS cataract interventions. FLACS is associated with a significantly higher increase of macular thickness at 30 days compared to B-MICS.Keywords: femtosecond laser, macular pigment, macular pigment optical density (MPOD), femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery (FLACS), bimanual microincision cataract surgery (B-MICS), flicker photometry

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