ACTA FAC. MED. NAISS. 2004; 21 (3):131-135

     Original article

Dragan Veselinović¹, Branislav Đurović², Gordana Zlatanović¹, Zlatica Višnjić¹, Branislav Tomašević¹, Boban Đunić¹, Jasmina Jocić -Đorđević¹

¹Ophthalmology Clinic of Clinical Center Niš,
²Ophthalmology Clinic VMA-Belgrade

         In the course of the first six months of 2004, 852 patients have undergone operations in Ophthalmology Clinic Ni{ for various forms of cataract. Out of the total number of patients operated for cataract, in 164 (19.2%) cases we performed an ultrasound cataract operation - phaco - emulsification. During the operation, all patients received implantation of PMA lenses. The method of phacoemulsification has been performed on Millennium apparatus, manufactured by Baush&Lomb company, while me - thod of extracapsular extraction has been performed after classical limbal incision with opening of 10-12mm.
    During our work, we analyzed the number of postoperative and operative complications in 164 patients operated by ultrasound method and compared it with the same findings for 165 patients operated by manual extracapsular method with implantation of hard intraocular lenses. We also analyzed the length of hospital stay and postoperative visual acuity for both groups of patients.
    The results reveal that the number of operative and postoperative complications caused by application of phacoemulsification method has been significantly lower compared to the technique of manual extracapsular extraction.
    Postoperative recovery is much quicker in patients operated by ultrasound method; local status during the first postoperative day shows a smaller number of pronounced signs of postoperative reactions (redness of the eye, corneal edema, exudation signs). The average length of recovery for patients operated by extracapsular method was 3.5 days, while for patients operated by phacoemulsification it was only one day.

    Key words: ultrasound cataract operation, phacoemulsification