Assessment Of Reading Performance In Premium Iol Using Eyeradar, An Ai-Powered Eye-Tracking Reading Platform
Published 2026 - 44th Congress of the ESCRS
Reference: POCAT305 | Type: Poster | DOI: 10.82333/te09-cr36
Authors: Mr Minas Aslanidis 1 , Mr Vasileios Selimis 2 , Dr Evripidis Sykakis 3 , Mr Vassilis Andreadakis 4 , Dr Ioannis Aslanides* 2 , Dr Vinod Gangwani 5
1Emmetropia Eye Institute,Heraklion,Greece;Ashford and St. Peter’s Hospitals NHS Trust,London,United Kingdom;Emmetropia Research Lab,Heraklion,Greece, 2Emmetropia Eye Institute,Heraklion,Greece;Emmetropia Research Lab,Heraklion,Greece, 3Emmetropia Eye Institute,Heraklion,Greece, 4Emmetropia Research Lab,Heraklion,Greece, 5Ashford and St. Peter’s Hospitals NHS Trust,London,United Kingdom
Purpose
Visual acuity (VA) remains the standard clinical endpoint following cataract surgery, yet it correlates poorly with patients' functional reading ability and quality of life. This study aimed to evaluate functional silent reading performance in patients undergoing phacoemulsification with IOL implantation using AI-powered eye-tracking technology (eyeRadar), supplementing VA with objective, multidimensional oculomotor indices to better capture real-world reading outcomes.
Setting
Emmetropia Eye Institute, Heraklion, Crete, Greece
Methods
Patients scheduled for phacoemulsification with monofocal or premium IOL implantation were prospectively assessed pre-operatively and at 1 and 3 months post-operatively. Reading performance was evaluated using the eyeRadar (Emmetropia Research Lab, Greece), which records binocular eye movements at 90Hz during standardised passage reading. Parameters analysed included reading speed (words per minute), fixation duration, forward fixations per word, saccade length, and regression frequency. Standard corrected distance and near VA (logMAR) were recorded at each visit.
Results
Post-operatively, significant improvements in reading speed and oculomotor efficiency were observed compared to baseline. Forward fixation frequency and regression rates normalised progressively at 1 and 3 months. Premium IOL recipients demonstrated statistically superior reading fluency indices compared to monofocal IOL recipients at 3 months, despite comparable near VA measurements. VA correlated weakly with oculomotor reading indices, confirming its limited value as a standalone functional outcome measure.
Conclusions
AI-powered eye-tracking assessment using eyeRadar provides a novel, dynamic assessment of the human visual performance following cataract surgery, capturing oculomotor dimensions that standard static VA measurements fail to reflect. This methodology enables clinicians to monitor recovery trajectory, differentiate IOL performance in terms of real-world reading function, and better align surgical outcomes with patient quality-of-life expectations. Eye-tracking-based reading assessment represents a promising new standard for dynamic evaluation of vision post cataract and refractive surgery.