The Kuwait cataract outcome study: a 12-month evaluation.

OBJECTIVE To assess the frequency of intraopertive difficulties, postoperative complications and the visual outcome in cataract surgery performed at the Al-Bahar Eye Center, Kuwait. SUBJECTS AND METHODS This case series study is comprised of 350 eyes from 325 subjects (169 male, 156 female; 30-78 years, mean age 64 years) undergoing consecutive cataract surgery performed at the Al-Bahar Eye Center, Kuwait from July 2001 to June 2002. All the eyes underwent extensive ophthalmic examinations before and after surgery. Details of surgical procedures, including the type of the cataract surgery, intraoperative difficulties or complications, postoperative complications, and the visual outcome were documented. RESULTS The extracapsular cataract extraction (ECCE) technique was used for 50.2% of the eyes and for the remaining 49.8%, the small-incision phacoemulsification technique was used. Of the 350 eyes operated upon, 9.7% had coexisting ocular disease which may have affected the best spectacle corrected visual acuity (BSCVA). Complications included posterior capsule tears and vitreous loss (10%), cystoid macular edema (0.6%) and endophthalmitis (0.9%) of the eyes. A BSCVA of 6/12 or better was achieved in 78.3% of the cases. CONCLUSION A high success rate in terms of visual acuity outcome was achieved in the cataract surgery. The operative and postoperative complications were similar for both techniques, ECCE and phacoemulsification.