Department of Ophthalmology, Diakonessenhuis Utrecht, Zeist, The Netherlands.
Present adress: Department of Gynaecology, St. Antonius Hospital, Nieuwegein, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
BMC Ophthalmol. 2023 Dec 6;23(1):497. doi: 10.1186/s12886-023-03225-4.
One of the many consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic was a worldwide lockdown of ophthalmic surgery procedures for several months in 2020. The present study aims to answer the following question: does an intermission of cataract surgery for two months cause an increase in complication rates?
In this retrospective clinical chart review, data was taken from Dutch cataract complication registration database that contains pre-, intra- and postoperative information of patients that underwent cataract surgery in the Netherlands. The amount as well as type of complications were extracted before and after the eight weeks surgical intermission period (SIP): six weeks before (SIP-6) and six weeks after this period (SIP+6) for the years 2016-2020.
A significant decrease in complication rates was found between SIP-6 and SIP+6 in 2020. When SIP+6 2020 is compared to SIP+6 2019, a significant reduction is found. Overall, a downward trend in complication rates was observed in the period 2016-2020.
A two-months intermission of performing elective cataract surgery does not cause an increase in complications. In contrast, we observe a reduction of postoperative complications. This implicates that refraining from cataract surgery for two months might not compromise operative skills. The possible downward trend over the years can be partially explained by improved training, education and equipment, as well as an increased use of intracameral antibiotics during operation. Possible explanations for the reduction of complications after lockdown could be decreased time pressure as a consequence of a reduced number of operations at the restart of surgeries, and heightened awareness and cautiousness when resuming the operations.
COVID-19 大流行的众多后果之一是 2020 年全球范围内对眼科手术程序进行了数月的封锁。本研究旨在回答以下问题：白内障手术中断两个月是否会导致并发症发生率增加？
在这项回顾性临床图表研究中，从荷兰白内障并发症登记数据库中提取了数据，该数据库包含在荷兰接受白内障手术的患者的术前、术中和术后信息。在 8 周手术中断期（SIP）前后（SIP-6 和 SIP+6）提取了并发症的数量和类型：SIP-6 之前的六周和 SIP+6 之后的六周，时间范围为 2016 年至 2020 年。
2020 年，在 SIP-6 和 SIP+6 之间发现并发症发生率显着降低。当将 2020 年的 SIP+6 与 2019 年的 SIP+6 进行比较时，发现显著减少。总体而言，在 2016 年至 2020 年期间，并发症发生率呈下降趋势。
白内障择期手术中断两个月不会导致并发症增加。相反，我们观察到术后并发症减少。这意味着白内障手术暂停两个月可能不会影响手术技能。近年来可能出现的下降趋势部分可以通过改进的培训、教育和设备来解释，以及在手术过程中更频繁地使用眼内抗生素。封锁后并发症减少的可能解释是由于手术恢复时手术数量减少而导致的时间压力降低，以及在恢复手术时提高警惕性和谨慎性。
