Secondary outcomes of lens and cataract surgery: More than just "best-corrected visual acuity".

Most studies evaluating cataract surgery focus on the primary outcome of early, central, best-corrected visual acuity. However, cataract surgery and intraocular lens (IOL) design have other secondary visual outcomes as well as impacts on various ocular tissues, the visual function, and quality of life. Some of these aspects are more difficult to quantify, or are historically neglected, but might be extremely important to patients. One important development was the addition of blue-light filtering to IOL design. Whether these IOLs truly have the retinal protective qualities they were designed for is disputed, yet other inadvertent desirable and possibly detrimental influences are being examined. Risk of falls, driving accidents, and other injuries decrease following cataract surgery, especially in the elderly, the importance of which cannot be overemphasized. Cataract formation contributes to social isolation and decreases cognitive stimulation in the elderly population, while cataract extraction can reduce the risk of dementia and cognitive decline. Diffractive multifocal and extended depth-of-focus IOLs improve spectacle independence and patient reported outcomes, but positive and negative dysphotopsia may be persistent. Future directions such as using the IOL enabling clear spectacle-free vision at all distances, or intraoperative drug delivery systems show promising preliminary results. It seems inevitable that a higher focus on the secondary outcomes of surgery will increase. We believe that these aspects will become more and more relevant when considering new IOL designs and surgical techniques, a fact that will benefit both the patients and the surgeons.

[Outcomes of bilateral implantation of trifocal and extended depth of focus IOLs]. / Rezul'taty bilateral'noi implantatsii trifokal'noi intraokulyarnoi linzy i intraokulyarnoi linzy s rasshirennoi glubinoi fokusa.

In recent years, a new class of extended depth of focus (EDOF) intraocular lenses (IOLs) has become available on the market. There is only a limited number of scientific papers comparing trifocal and EDOF IOL data, and the results are often contradictory. PURPOSE: Comparative analysis of the results of trifocal and EDOF IOL implantation in patients with presbyopia and/or cataract. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This prospective study included 72 patients (144 eyes) after bilateral implantation of either Tecnis Symfony EDOF IOL (18 patients, 36 eyes; group I) or AcrySof PanOptix trifocal IOL (54 patients, 108 eyes; group II). In 18 patients out of 72 (25%) the implantation involved mini-monovision, i.e. the calculation of the IOL power on the nondominant eye was performed at -0.5 D. The average follow-up period for the patients was 7.1±1.2 months. RESULTS: There was a significant (p<0.05) increase in uncorrected near visual acuity (UCNVA), uncorrected intermediate visual acuity (UCIVA) and uncorrected distance visual acuity (UCDVA) at the maximum follow-up time compared to the preoperative indices in all groups. Group II was characterized by slightly better UCNVA dynamics (0.85±0.13 versus 0.2±0.04 before surgery, as comparted to 0.78±0.11 versus 0.19±0.06 before surgery in group I), but differences were not statistically significant (p>0.05). Statistically significant differences (p=0.046) were observed when comparing best corrected near vision acuity (BCNVA) in groups I and II (0.79±0.05 and 0.98±0.08, respectively) at 6 months compared to the preoperative period (0.62±0.09 and 0.6±0.11, respectively). CONCLUSION: Trifocal IOL implantation was associated with acceptable near and far vision correction and a higher frequency of adverse optical phenomena, while implantation of the EDOF IOL was associated with slightly better correction of intermediate vision and a significantly lower incidence of halo and glare. Patients were satisfied with the outcomes of surgery in all cases.