EVALUATION OF THE CAPSULAR BAG PERFORMANCE OF A NOVEL ASPHERIC HYDROPHOBIC INTRAOCULAR LENS USING FEMTOSECOND LASER ASSISTED CATARACT SURGERY: A RANDOMIZED TRIAL WITH BILATERAL COMPARISON

To evaluate the influence of a femtosecond laser on the post-operative capsular bag performance using a novel aspheric hydrophobic intraocular lens

Kepler University Hospital, Linz, Austria

Patients scheduled for bilateral cataract surgery were included in this randomized trial. All patients received the same aspheric hydrophobic intraocular lens (Lucia 621P/PY with a novel step vault design, Carl Zeiss Meditec AG, Germany). Randomisation was used to perform group allocation to be either in the femtosecond laser assisted cataract group (Victus, Lomb & Busch, Germany)  or conventional “manual” cataract surgery group. At the one and six months follow-ups visits two different swept source optical coherence tomography measurements (IOLMaster700, CZM and CASIA2, Tomey GmbH, Germany) were performed as well as auto refraction, subjective refraction and best corrected and uncorrected visual acuity.

In total, 100 eyes of 50 patients were included in this study. The post-operative mean spherical equivalent showed a slight hyperopic shift in both groups with no relevant difference (0.17 ± 0.64 dpt (D)  and 0.16 ± 0.40 D), respectively. Anterior chamber depth significantly changes in the manual cataract surgery group (4.58 ± 0.24 mm to 4.59 ± 0.24 mm; p < 0.012) and in the femtosecond laser assisted cohort (4.59 ± 0.24 mm to 4.62 ± 0.23 mm; p = 0.001)  after 1 to 6 months postoperatively.
Femtolaser assisted lens implantation showed a significant lower IOL tilt after 1 and 6 months (5.31 ± 1.75 degrees and 4.75 ± 2.04 degrees; each p < 0.001).

By now, AT Lucia shows an equal postoperative positional stability in both cohorts with a lower tilt in the femtosecond laser assisted group. A hyperopic shift is present after both procedures.