Purpose:
To demonstrate the importance of optical coherence tomography (OCT) in identifying macular changes not detected at clinical examination preceding cataract surgery in patients over 60 years of age.
Setting:
Private practice, Santos, Brazil
Desing:
Prospective case series.
Methods:
Patients over 60 years of age were selected for this cross-sectional prospective study conducted during preoperative examination for cataract surgery. Eyes with a previous diagnosis or clinical evidence of macular disease, or with media opacity preventing OCT from being performed were excluded from the study. All the study participants underwent OCT and were then divided into two groups: patients with macular changes and patients without macular changes found on OCT.
Results:
Of 364 eyes screened (212 patients), 300 eyes (180 patients) were included in the study. OCT identified macular changes in 40 eyes (13.3%), with age-related macular degeneration being found in 13 eyes (4.3%), epiretinal membrane in 12 eyes (4%), intraretinal fluid in 12 eyes (4%) and macular hole in 3 eyes (1%). In the group with macular changes, mean age was 74.4 ± 6.3 years compared to 70.4 ± 6.7 years for those without changes (p<0.001).
Conclusion:
OCT proved an effective method for identifying macular diseases not detected at clinical evaluation prior to cataract surgery. Therefore, the relevance of performing OCT in these cases was confirmed and should be taken into consideration, particularly when evaluating patients over 60 years of age.
