The Difference Of Postoperative Aqueous Antioxidant Concentrations Between Femtosecond Laser-Assisted Cataract Surgery And Conventional Cataract Surgery: A Prospective Study

To evaluate the change in total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and ascorbic acid (AA) levels between femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery (FLACS) and conventional cataract surgery.

A prospective non-randomized single-center study.

There were 18 and 36 patients receiving FLACS and conventional cataract surgery, respectively, were enrolled. The patients were subjected to cataract surgery with the same phacoemulsification and femtosecond laser devices. The aqueous humor was obtained via paracentesis before and one day after the cataract surgery, and TAC and AA concentrations were determined. The generalized linear mixed model was adopted to determine the adjusted odds ratio (aOR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of TAC and AA changes between groups.

Preoperative TAC and AA levels showed a significant decrement postoperatively in both the FLACS and control groups (P < 0.05). The trend in TAC (aOR: 0.352, 95% CI: 0.218-0.527, P = 0.0177) and AA (aOR: 0.308, 95% CI: 0.156-0.488, P = 0.0204) decrement was significantly greater in the FLACS group. In the subgroup analyses, the correlation between FLACS and greater TAC reduction was more significant in patients with high myopia, dense cataract, short anterior chamber depth (ACD), and long axial length (AXL) (P < 0.05). In addition, the correlation between FLACS and lower AA decrement was more significant in patients with high myopia, dense cataract, long AXL, and greater central corneal thickness (CCT) (P < 0.05).

FLACS was associated with greater TAC and AA reductions compared to conventional cataract surgery, especially in patients with high myopia and advanced cataract.