CONGENITAL CATARACT SURGERY :A COHORT STUDY ABOUT 60 EYES

this study was aimed at describing our experience in congenital cataract surgery and clinical management in the military hospital and describe the course and outcomes of this kind of surgery.

The congenital cataract remains a frequent cause of blindness and infantile low vision in our country. It defines itself by an abnormality of transparency of the lens existing in the birth and sometimes responsible for an important visual disorder. We realized a cohort study in the service of ophthalmology of the military Hospital Moulay Ismail in Meknes  between January 2011 and October 2022, concerning  50 children and 60 eyes.

We realized a cohort study in the service of ophthalmology of the military Hospital Moulay Ismail in Meknes  between January 2011 and October 2022, concerning  50 children and 60 eyes.Our study contained all the cases of congenital cataract about is the age of discovery, excluding the lenticular ectopias which do not come along systematically with a disorder of transparency of the lens, as well as the congenital cataracts not obstructive not having required a surgical care. 

The age of our patients varies between 5 years and 22 years, the average age is of 6 and half year with a male ascendancy. A notion of parental consanguinity was found in 25 % of the cases.

The etiologic inquiry put in evidence: a rubeolic embryo-foetopathy in 27,1 % of the cases; the congenital cataract is hereditary isolated in 12,9 % of the cases, it is due to a chromosomal aberration in only 2,8 % of the cases.

 All our patients benefited from the same operative procedure namely: a phacoemulsification followed by a posterior capsulorhexis and by an anterior vitrectomy, as well as an adapted orthoptic rehabilitation ; 98 % of the operated eyes were implanted with good anatomical and functional results and very few postoperative complications.

Congenital cataract is a therapeutic emergency «surgical and amblyopia treatment» to avoid irreversible visual impairment. Etiological research and long-term follow-up are needed.