Laser Cataract Surgery More Accurate Than Manual

Laser Cataract Surgery More Accurate Than Manual.
Cataract surgery, already an very conservative and successful procedure, can be made more specific by combining a laser and three-dimensional imaging, a budding study suggests. Researchers found that a femtosecond laser, in use for many years in LASIK surgery, can cut into delicate eye web more cleanly and accurately than manual cataract surgery, which is performed more than 1,5 million times each year in the United States antehealth. In the ongoing procedure, which has a 98 percent attainment rate, surgeons use a micro-blade to lower a circle around the cornea before extracting the cataract with an ultrasound machine.

The laser methodology uses optical coherence technology to customize each patient's perception measurements before slicing through the lens capsule and cataract, though ultrasound is still worn to remove the cataract itself. "It takes some talent and energy to break the lens with the ultrasound," explained create researcher Daniel Palanker, an associated professor of ophthalmology at Stanford University. "The laser helps to speediness this up and make it safer".

After practicing the laser modus operandi on pig eyes and donated human eyes, Palanker and his colleagues did further experiments to support that the high-powered, rapid-pulse laser would not cause retinal damage. Actual surgeries later performed on 50 patients between the ages of 55 and 80 showed that the laser reduction circles in lens capsules 12 times more faithful than those achieved by the ancestral method. No adverse belongings were reported.

The study, reported in the Nov 17, 2010 emergence of Science Translational Medicine, was funded by OpticaMedica Corp of Santa Clara, Calif, in which Palanker has an open-mindedness stake. The results are being reviewed by the US Food and Drug Administration, while the laser technology, which is being developed by several off the record companies, is expected to be released worldwide in 2011.

Dr Scott Greenstein, a sweeping ophthalmology and cataracts superb at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, said he was uneasy that the analysis was funded by a fellowship with a secure in the outcome. But he added that the data was encouraging. "I by oneself am excited by it," said Greenstein, who teaches ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School. "It's an enhancement of something we're already doing that's altogether successful. We necessity a troop of centers studying this with more patients. It would be useful to conceive if there is a significant statistical difference in the outcomes".

Both Greenstein and Dr Richard Bensinger, a Seattle ophthalmologist and spokesman for the American Academy of Ophthalmology, expressed pertain that the laser-guided cataract surgery would be much more high-priced than directions surgery and were skeptical that health insurance companies would be willing to selection up the tab. "It's a fairly expensive way to do something we do reason now with a $120 instrument that makes the opening. It's favourable to the extent that it can avoid a tear in the cornea - but the downside is you shortage a very expensive machine to do it. It's at best a little gentility that adds a little precision".

Although the femtosecond laser technique is unquestionably more precise, Palanker's request that it results in a better fit for the artificial lens replacing the clouded one is dubious, Bensinger and Greenstein said. Experienced surgeons performing handbook cataract surgery almost never have discomfort aligning the new lens with the pupil and keeping it in place.

So "Over the thousands of cases I've done, I'm indeed not knowing personally of this being a problem. If you have a less precise, skilful surgeon then this would be a benefit for the patient. It makes reproducible, expert incisions every time". Palanker said further research will concentrate on whether laser-guided cataract surgery results in better postoperative vision than household surgery favstore.gdn. Among the small group of study participants there was no significant leftovers in outcomes between the two.