Simultaneous bilateral versus sequential bilateral cataract surgery: Helsinki Simultaneous Bilateral Cataract Surgery Study Report 1.

PURPOSE

To evaluate the refractive outcomes, complication rates, and changes in patients' functional state and satisfaction with simultaneous compared with sequential bilateral cataract surgery.

SETTING

Helsinki University Eye Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.

DESIGN

Clinical trial.

METHODS

Consecutive patients scheduled for bilateral cataract surgery were enrolled based on appropriate inclusion criteria and randomized to be operated on in 1 session (study group) or sequentially (control group) 4 to 6 weeks apart.

RESULTS

Four hundred ninety-one (94.4%) of the 520 patients completed the study. Of the eyes, 493 (247 patients) had bilateral surgery in 1 session and 506 (257 patients) in separate sessions. In the study group, 240 patients (96.0%) were treated per protocol. In the control group, 250 patients (97.3%) were treated per protocol. The refraction was within ± 0.50 diopter (D) of the target in 67.2% of eyes in the study group and 69.2% of eyes in the control group and within ± 1.00 D in 91.0% and 90.3%, respectively (P = .92). The only complication that affected postoperative visual acuity was chronic cystoid macular edema, which occurred in 1 eye in the study group (0.2%) and in 2 eyes (0.4%) of 1 patient in the control group (P = .57). Ninety-five percent of patients in both groups reported being very satisfied with surgery.

CONCLUSION

The refractive outcomes, rates of complications, and patient-rated satisfaction were similar whether bilateral cataract surgery was performed simultaneously or sequentially.

FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE

No author has a financial or proprietary interest in any material or method mentioned.