Elevated intraocular pressure in paediatric cataract surgery in a reference centre.

Objective: To study elevated postoperative intraocular pressure (PIOP) after paediatric cataract surgery in a reference centre and to compare the results obtained with the most relevant world literature.
Materials and Methods: A retrospective observational study was conducted, collecting information from clinical records of 99 patients (142 eyes) operated on due to unilateral or bilateral paediatric cataracts between 2000 and 2008.
Results: The proportion of eyes with PIOP≥20mmHg and bilateral cataracts was higher, 79.3%, than the proportion of eyes with PIOP≥20mmHg and a unilateral cataract, 20.7% (P=.032). The proportion of eyes with PIOP≥20mmHg between the eyes with cataract surgery before one month of age was higher, 50%, than between the eyes in which the cataract surgery was performed after one month of age, 17.2% (P=.009). PIOP values≥20mmHg were associated with a lower best corrected visual acuity at 5 years after cataract surgery (P=.020). The proportion of eyes with PIOP≥20mmHg and without intraocular lenses was higher, 69%, than the proportion of eyes with PIOP≥20mmHg and intraocular lenses, 31% (P<.001).
Conclusions: A PIOP>20mmHg was observed in 20.4% of eyes in a 5-year follow-up period, appearing more frequently in eyes with bilateral cataract than unilateral, and in aphakic eyes more than pseudophakic eyes. Elevation of the PIOP was associated with the performance of cataract surgery at early ages.
(Copyright © 2019 Sociedad Española de Oftalmología. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.)