Cataract surgery is one of the most common procedures performed in the entire world. Cataracts are inevitable in anyone who live to old age and as the global population continues to age, the number of cataract surgeries that are expected to be performed each year is only expected to increase. The procedure is also one of the oldest and has matured a substantial amount since its first utilization but it is still not perfect. It is crucial that we continue to improve to procedure in pursuit of improved post-operative outcomes for patients. In this study, a delayed phacoemulsification after the femtosecond laser anterior capsulotomy and lens fragmentation was introduced into the procedure with the hypothesis that this may allow the cataract to hydrate and soften, leading to an intraoperative reduced phacoemulsification power and a post-operative preservation of the corneal endothelium in grade 4 nuclear cataracts. This study is a new study with very little data collected so far but it is planned that we will initially perform the procedure on 10 patients with bilateral grade 4 cataracts. Each patient will have the new procedure done on one eye and then the typical cataract surgery procedure done on the other eye to be used as a statistical comparator. This thesis specifically explores the concept of introducing a delay between the capsulotomy and the phacoemulsification process and the safety and feasibility of such procedure in practice. The new procedure, so far, has been performed on one patient with the surgery data for the other eye currently pending. Relevant data such as cumulative dissipated energy and intraocular pressures were recorded during and after the surgery for future comparisons. Without a complete set of data, a statistical conclusion cannot be made about the efficacy of the new procedure, but as addressed in this thesis, the procedure has been concluded to be safe and feasible with a good post-operative outcome.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/43347 |
| Date | 10 November 2021 |
| Creators | Ciszewski, Brian |
| Contributors | Gerstenfeld, Louis |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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