Comparison of Patient-Reported Functional Recovery From Different Types of Ophthalmic Surgery.

PURPOSE: To characterize and compare patient-reported recovery of function after cataract or glaucoma surgery using a novel visual analog scale. DESIGN: Prospective observational cohort study. METHODS: Daily for 2 weeks and weekly thereafter, patients recovering from trabeculectomy, tube shunt implantation, or cataract extraction (CE) completed a diary-style questionnaire including visual analog scales (VASs; scored 0-100) grading pain and global function. Clinical examination data and medical histories were collected. Generalized estimating equation models evaluated associations between VAS function scores and pain or visual acuity (VA) and compared scores between surgery types. RESULTS: Among 51 participants followed for 12 weeks, tube shunt placement reduced postoperative day 1 (POD1) function by 47 of 100 points vs CE (P = .006), while trabeculectomy did not reduce POD1 function vs CE (P = .33). After CE, trabeculectomy, and tube shunt placement, average VAS function scores increased 13.94 per week for 2 weeks (P < .001), 4.18 per week for 4 weeks (P = .02), and 7.76 per week for 7 weeks (P < .001), respectively. After those timepoints, there was no further significant change. Beyond 2 weeks, pain levels plateaued, and VA returned to baseline across surgery types; function was inversely related to pain or VA only for the first 2 or 4 weeks, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Patients recovering from cataract and glaucoma surgery report reduced function in the postoperative period. Tube shunt implantation causes greater morbidity than trabeculectomy, and both are associated with slower improvement than CE. Early postoperative function is associated with VA and pain, but neither fully explains reported impairment. A VAS for function may efficiently capture postoperative recovery.

Evidence-Based Criteria for Determining Peripapillary OCT Reliability.

PURPOSE: To assess the impact of OCT signal strength (SS) and artifact on retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) measurement reliability and to understand whether glaucoma severity modifies this relationship. DESIGN: Retrospective, longitudinal cohort study. PARTICIPANTS: Two thousand nine hundred ninety-two OCT scans from 474 eyes of 241 patients with glaucoma or glaucoma suspect status. METHODS: We extracted mean RNFL thickness and SS and manually graded scans for artifact. To analyze the effect of SS and artifact on OCT reliability, we (1) created a multilevel linear model using measured RNFL thickness values and demographic and clinical data to estimate the true (predicted) RNFL thickness, (2) calculated model residuals (ΔRNFL) as our reliability measure, and (3) created a second multilevel linear model with splines and interaction terms that modeled overall and quadrant specific reliability (ΔRNFL) as the outcome, using SS and artifact as predictors. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Impact of SS and artifact on ΔRNFL. RESULTS: For SS between 10 and 3, the impact of decreases in SS on OCT reliability is modest (-0.67 to -1.25 ΔRNFL per 1-point decrease in SS; P < 0.05). But at less than 3, changes in SS have a large impact on reliability (-15.70 to -16.34 ΔRNFL per 1-point decrease in SS; P < 0.05). At SS between 10 and 3, decreases in SS tend to have a larger impact on reliability in eyes with severe glaucoma (-1.25 per 1-point decrease in SS; P < 0.05) compared with eyes with mild or moderate glaucoma (-0.67 to -0.75 per 1-point decrease in SS; P < 0.05). The presence of artifact has a significant impact on OCT reliability independent of the effects of SS (-4.76 ΔRNFL; P < 0.05). Artifact affects reliability solely in the quadrant in which it occurs, with artifact in one quadrant showing no impact on ΔRNFL in the opposite quadrant (P > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Signal strength decreases down to 3 have relatively mild impacts on OCT reliability. At less than 3, the impact of further decreases in SS on reliability are substantial. The effect of SS on reliability is greater in severe glaucoma. Artifacts result in a decrease in reliability independent of the effect of SS. We propose evidence-based guidelines to guide physicians on whether to trust the results of an OCT scan.