Intraoperative intraocular pressure fluctuation during standard phacoemulsification in real human patients
Abstract
Intraoperative intraocular pressure fluctuation during standard phacoemulsification in real human patients. At present, phacoemulsification is the most frequently performed ophthalmic surgical procedure in human ophthalmology.
With the ongoing development of the cataract surgery, cataract surgeons tend to use high vacuum to do the surgery quickly. The increased vacuum may bring the unstable anterior chamber.
To ensure anterior chamber stability during the procedure, higher infusion height is needed, inducing the intraocular pressure (IOP) elevation during surgery. Several papers were published to evaluate the visual loss by transient increase of IOP.
Fluctuations in the IOP and its acute elevation may induce compression of the nerve fibres in primary glaucoma eyes, and may hence cause damage to the remains of the visual field. These publications suggested the risk of transient IOP elevations on retinal and optic nerve vessels and for impairment of visual function.
The aim of the study is to evaluate the values of the intraocular pressure during the basic phases of standard cataract surgery using phacoemulsification. As far as we have been able to determine, no study evaluating the fluctuation of the intraocular pressure during standard cataract surgery in real patients has yet been published.