Short-Term Changes in Retinal Vasculature and Layer Thickness after Phacoemulsification Surgery

ABSTRACT

Purpose

To evaluate the short-term influence of uncomplicated phacoemulsification on fundus structure and vasculature change.

Methods

A total of 51 eyes from 51 patients with mild-to-moderate cataracts were included. Retinal vessel density, perfusion density, and layer thickness in both macular and peripapillary areas were scanned by OCT at baseline and at 1 day, 1 week, and 1 month after cataract surgery. Cumulative dissipated energy (CDE), U/S total time (USTT) and total aspiration time (TAT) were recorded as parameters of surgical injury to analyze the surgical influence on fundus change.

Results

There was a significant increase up in retinal vasculature parameters in both macular and optic nerve area after the surgery. The retinal layer thickness had pronounced increase from 1 week after the surgery (all p < .05, repeated-measures analysis of variance). Retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness and ganglion cell layer (GCL) thickness increased more rapidly than other layers. There was a positive correlation between CDE and vasculature changes from 1 week to 1 month (Vessel density in macular to CDE: standardized β = 0.448, p = .005; Perfusion density in peripapillary area to CDE: standardized β = 0.382, p = .015).

Conclusions

Retinal vasculature and layer thickness increased in short-term follow-up after cataract surgery. Whether these changes would persist over a longer period needs to be verified.

Keywords:

• Cataract
• phacoemulsification
• optical coherence tomography (OCT)
• retinal vasculature

Conflicts of interest

None of the authors has financial or other conflicts of interest concerning this study.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the China National Funds for Distinguished Young Scientists [81425006]; National Key R&D Program of China [2016YFC0904800]; Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality [1341195400].