[Prospective randomized trial comparing Discovisc versus Healon in phacoemulsification].

OBJECTIVE To compare the intraoperative behaviour of both, DisCoVisc and Healon used as viscoelastics in cataract surgery. METHOD We prospectively evaluated 35 patients with cataracts who underwent phacoemulsification and intraocular lens implantation. Patients were randomized into two groups. Group A included 17 patients in where Healon was used as a viscoelastic, whereas group B included 18 patients in where the viscoelastic used was DisCoVisc. After each procedure, the surgeon filled in a questionnaire describing the behaviour of the viscoelastic during the different stages of phacoemulsification. RESULTS DisCoVisc behaved as both cohesive and dispersive viscoelastic during capsulorrhexis, phacoemulsification and viscoelastic aspiration, whereas Healon acted as a cohesive substance during all surgical stages. DisCoVisc enabled better visualization and transparency during all the surgical stages and maintains the capsular bag better during the intraocular lens implantation. Viscoelastic aspiration was easier with Healon. CONCLUSIONS DisCoVisc is a new viscosurgical device with both cohesive and dispersive properties, which avoids using two different viscoelastics to improve the performance at different surgical stages. DisCoVisc has been shown to be more transparent and provides better anterior chamber maintenance when compared with Healon. Healon was more easily aspirated due to its cohesive character.