Age-related macular degeneration and cataract surgery

Author: 
Salssabile Nafizy., Samia Nassik., Aouatef Masmoudi., Amine Kouisbahi., Hamza El Orch and Amina Berraho

Purpose: To study the progression of visual acuity (VA) and retinal abnormalities in 30 eyes of 18 patients with AMD who had had cataract surgery. They were divided up into two groups according to AMD stage: the first group with drusen and retinal pigmented epithelium abnormalities and the second in the severe stages of age-related macular degeneration with atrophy and neovascularization.
In the first group 10 eyes, we found an improvement in VA in 90% of the eyes. New manifestations of neovascularization appeared in only 3 eye s(10%) 1 year after surgery. In the second group (20 eyes), we found atrophy in 80% of the eyes and neovascularization in 20% of the eyes before surgery. There was an improvement in VA after cataract surgery in 70% of the eyes, and in three eyes (17%) VA worsened.
In our study, patients with AMD improved VA and quality of life after cataract surgery. The same results of VA improvement after surgery can be found in the literature. However, no conclusions can be made concerning the progression of fundus lesions on a short term, though it seems that cataract surgery may accelerate the progression of AMD lesions years after surgery.

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DOI: 
http://dx.doi.org/10.24327/ijcar.2018.12748.2252
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