Visual outcomes of cataract surgery: An observational study of ten years from a tertiary eye care hospital in Pakistan

Objectives: To observe and analyze the visual outcomes of cataract surgery of ten years at a tertiary eye care hospital, Karachi.

Methods: An observational study with retrospective data search was conducted in Al Ibrahim Eye Hospital (AIEH), Karachi. Data of all adults (above 16 years) who underwent cataract surgery from 2010-2019 was retrieved from HIMS. Presence of opacity in the lens was labelled as cataract. Surgery was advised when patient’s BCVA was found to be 6/18. Visual assessments of the patients were done on day 01, one week and six weeks postoperatively. Postoperatively, 6/6 – 6/12 was considered as good, 6/18 as mild visual impairment, < 6/18 to 6/60 as moderate visual impairment and < 6/60 as severe visual impairment.

Results: A total of 1,027,840 patients visited AIEH with different eye diseases. Among 1027840 individuals, cataract was identified in 88443 (8.6%). Surgery was advised to 58371 and performed in 38616. Records of operated cases (38616) were retrieved. Mean age of patients was 54.96±14.22 years. There were 20578 (53.29%) males and 18038 (46.71%) females who underwent surgery . At the end of sixth week, 3561 (18.4%), patients were found to have “good vision”, 12242 (63.43%) had mild visual impairment, 2676 (13.86%) had moderate visual impairment and 822 (4.26%) had severe visual impairment. Corneal Complications was the commonest cause (33.56%) at sixth week.

Conclusions: The institution achieved WHO recommended criteria of “good visual outcome” (6/6 to 6/18) of 81.83% which is near to recommended ≥ 90% and severe visual impairment of 4.26%.