Hydrophobic IOL outcomes

The implantation of the new CT LUCIA 601PY (Zeiss) intraocular lens (IOL) achieved similar results to the AcrySof IQ SN60WF (Alcon) in terms of visual acuity, with more predictable postoperative refraction and no glistenings, but also with a higher rate of posterior capsule opacification (PCO), reported a team of clinical investigators from The Charité – University Medicine Berlin, Germany at the XXXIV Congress of the ESCRS in Copenhagen, Denmark. The author team is comprised of Tobias Brockmann MD, Christoph von Sonnleithner MD, Necip Torun MD and Eckart Bertelmann MD. The prospective randomised controlled trial involved 64 eyes of 32 cataract patients who underwent implantation of either the CT LUCIA 601PY or SN60WF IOL between June 2014 and October 2015. Exclusion criteria included ocular comorbidities which might impair vision, heparin allergy and previous intraocular surgery, said Dr Brockmann, of The Charité – University Medicine Berlin, Germany. He noted that the two lenses were similar in design, being composed of hydrophobic material with ultraviolet and blue light filters and having monofocal aspheric optics. They differed mainly in that the CT LUCIA’s material was heparin-coated and the haptics were angulated. The Berlin team implanted the lenses through a 2.2mm clear corneal incision at the steep axis and sealed the side-port by hydration. All patients were targeted for emmetropia. At a follow-up of one year, there were no significant differences between the groups in terms of visual acuity. The mean uncorrected distance visual acuity improved from 0.55 logMAR preoperatively to 0.11 logMAR in the CT LUCIA lens, and from 0.63 to 0.10 with the SN60WF IOL. The refractive predictability using the Haigis formula was better in the CT LUCIA group, with over 80% of them within 0.5D of emmetropia, compared to only 70% of eyes implanted with the Alcon lens. The difference was statistically significant.

The prospective randomised controlled trial involved 64 eyes of 32 cataract patients who underwent implantation of either the CT LUCIA 601PY or SN60WF IOL between June 2014 and October 2015

However, he noted that the new lens performed less well than the AcrySof lens in terms of PCO. At 12 months, only around half as many eyes were PCO-free in the CT LUCIA group as in the SN60WF group and three patients with the new lens required a YAG capsulotomy. However, he added that the design of the CT LUCIA lens has been modified since the trial and now has a sharper optic edge, which should reduce the incidence of the complication in the future. Regarding glistenings, he noted that all of the new Zeiss IOLs at his centre remained glistening-free at one year, whereas glistenings were present in 13 of the older Alcon lenses. There were, however, some glistenings reported in the new lenses in a large multicentre trial, he said. Tobias Brockmann: tobias.brockmann@charite.de

Tags: heparin coated iol