Purpose:
To compare the utility of Precision Pulse Capsulotomy (PPC) with manual capsulorhexis for capsulotomy in white cataracts.
Setting:
Hospital-based academic practice.
Design:
Retrospective analysis of surgical case records and surgical videos from a single surgeon.
Methods:
Cases involving intumescent and non-intumescent white cataracts were identified. Capsulotomy outcomes, surgical outcomes, procedural time, and resource utilization as well as patient demographic and health data were analyzed and subjected to statistical testing.
Results:
15 cases of white cataract (10 Intumescent, 5 non-intumescent) performed using Continuous Curvilinear Capsulorhexis (CCC) were compared to 20 cases (9 Intumescent, 11 non-intumescent) performed using PPC. The cases covered a period of 14 months prior to and 30 months following surgeon adoption of PPC. There were no significant differences between the 2 groups in subject age, sex, ethnicity, ocular history, medical history and medications. PPC resulted in complete capsulotomies without tags or tears and intracapsular IOL implantation with 360-degree capsular overlap in all 20 cases. There was one CCC case resulting in the Argentinian Flag sign. Compared to CCC, PPC white cataract cases also demonstrated significant advantages in capsulotomy time, reduced use of trypan blue and ophthalmic viscosurgical device (OVD), and less overall procedural time.
Conclusions:
PPC is a safe and highly effective method to create consistent capsulotomies in both intumescent and non-intumescent white cataracts. The use of PPC provides benefits of significant reductions in capsulotomy time, overall procedural time and resource utilization resulting in a streamlined treatment of these complex cataract surgery cases.
