Ultrasonic observations of the vitreous body immediately following cataract extraction.

An A-scan ultrasound examination of the vitreous body was performed in 50 cases of cataracta senilis, both immediately preceding the operation and twice following. In 4 cases, the vitreous body was acoustically homogeneous, and in another 4 extensive degeneration was observed both before and after the operation. In 42 cases the vitreous body was acoustically slightly heterogeneous. Cataract extraction did not affect the acoustic structure of the vitreous body. In 16 cases the other eye had been similarly operated on an average of 2 years earlier; in all cases the acoustic structure of the vitreous body in this eye was similar to that in the eye now operated on.