PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Agarwal, Amar AU - Narang, Priya AU - A Kumar, Dhivya AU - Agarwal, Ashvin TI - Clinical outcomes of sleeveless phacotip assisted levitation of dropped nucleus AID - 10.1136/bjophthalmol-2013-304737 DP - 2014 Oct 01 TA - British Journal of Ophthalmology PG - 1429--1434 VI - 98 IP - 10 4099 - http://bjo.bmj.com/content/98/10/1429.short 4100 - http://bjo.bmj.com/content/98/10/1429.full SO - Br J Ophthalmol2014 Oct 01; 98 AB - Background/aim To demonstrate the feasibility of a sleeveless phacotip-assisted approach to levitate dropped nucleus. Methods This single-centre, retrospective, interventional, non-comparative case series reviewed the medical records of 34 eyes of 34 patients. Corrected and uncorrected distance visual acuity (CDVA, UDVA), early and late postoperative complications and ultrasound biomicroscopic (UBM) evaluation of the sclerotomy site was analysed. Results At 18 months follow-up, the mean postoperative UDVA and CDVA in Snellen's decimal equivalent was 0.42±0.16 and 0.91±0.2, respectively. There was a significant improvement in the UDVA (p=0.001) and CDVA (p=0.002). Nucleus drop occurred following intraoperative posterior capsular rupture in 25 eyes (73.5%), zonular weakness in 5 eyes (14.8%) and post-trauma in 4 eyes (11.7%). In the early postoperative period, corneal oedema was seen in 2 eyes, pigment dispersion in 3 eyes and vitritis in 2 eyes. There was loss of CDVA in 1 (2.9%) eye due to persistent cystoid macular oedema. UBM did not reveal any vitreous incarceration into the sclerotomy site. Conclusion Dropped nucleus was successfully levitated into anterior chamber with this technique, resulting in a significant visual outcome with a favourable complication rate.