Elsevier

Ophthalmology

Volume 107, Issue 12, December 2000, Pages 2172-2178
Ophthalmology

Ultrasound biomicroscopic analysis of posterior chamber intraocular lenses with transscleral sulcus suture

Presented in part at the Symposium on Cataract, IOL and Refractive Surgery, San Diego, California, April 1998.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0161-6420(00)00412-7Get rights and content

Abstract

Objective

To investigate the postoperative problems of intraocular lenses (IOLs) with transscleral sulcus suture.

Design

Retrospective observational case series.

Participants

Forty-one subjects (43 eyes) were included.

Intervention

All eyes had undergone transscleral sulcus suture of IOLs. Surgeries were all performed by surgeons in our clinic using the same technique.

Main outcome measures

Ultrasound biomicroscopy of the suture sites, their surrounding structures, and central anterior chamber depth. Other parameters studied included visual acuity, aqueous flare, and routine ophthalmic examinations.

Results

Thirty-two of 86 haptics were sutured at the ciliary sulcus (CS) region and 29 at the ciliary process region, which was the space between CS and pars plicata, and 25 posterior to pars plicata. We designated the cases with at least one haptic located in the CS region as the anterior group, and the other cases as the posterior group. In the anterior group, anterior chamber depth was significantly more shallow than in the fellow eye in which IOLs were fixed in the bag (P = 0.049). There was a statistically greater incidence of IOL iris contact in the anterior group than in the posterior group (P = 0.00057). Pigment dispersion was seen in seven cases, all of which were classified as anterior group. Eyes in the posterior group had more aqueous flare than their fellow eyes (P = 0.014). Two cases, in which more than two lines of postoperative best-corrected visual acuity was lost because of macular degeneration after cystoid macular edema, showed marked elevation of aqueous flare in the sutured eyes compared with their fellow eyes. Forty-one of 86 haptics had vitreous incarceration.

Conclusions

This technique has many limitations: the difficulty of suturing precisely at the ciliary sulcus, IOL iris contact, pigment dispersion, high aqueous flare, and vitreous incarceration. These induce two major postoperative complications: chronic inflammation and influence on the adjacent vitreous such as vitreous incarceration. The suturing technique and instruments need to be improved to diminish such complications.

Section snippets

Subjects and methods

We examined 43 eyes of 41 subjects, 17 women and 24 men, after transscleral sulcus suture of an IOL in which both haptics had been fixed. The ages of the subjects ranged from 46 to 85 years; mean (± standard deviation) was 72 ± 9 years. Follow-up duration ranged from 5 to 76 months; mean (± standard deviation) was 27 ± 21 months. Surgery was performed by surgeons in our clinic with the same technique as described by Lewis.1 We performed anterior vitrectomy before having the needle penetrate the

Visual acuity

Figure 4 shows the best-corrected visual acuity before and after surgery. The best-corrected visual acuity was achieved at 5 months after the operation. Surgical procedures might contribute to a final corrected visual acuity loss of more than 2 lines of the best postoperative corrected visual acuity in five cases. The causes of loss were macular degeneration after cystoid macular edema in two cases, macular hole in one, severe corneal astigmatism in one, and persistent inflammation of anterior

Discussion

Many articles introduce surgical techniques for transscleral sulcus suturing of an IOL and complications such as IOL decentration, cystoid macular edema, retinal detachment, and glaucoma,1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 but few observe and analyze the fixation position directly in the living eyes22, 23, 24 Pavlin et al22 observed sutured eyes with UBM. Of 34 haptics in 17 subjects, 13 (38%) were adequately located in the sulcus region in their series.

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