Effect of posterior neodymium:YAG capsulotomy. Safety evaluation of macular foveal thickness, intraocular pressure and endothelial cell loss in pseudophakic patients with posterior capsule opacification

a b s t r a c t Objective: To determine the effect of posterior capsulotomy on macular thickness, intraocular pressure and endothelial cell loss in pseudophakic patients with posterior capsule opacification using the other eye of every patient as a control. Methods: An observational prospective study was conducted on 31 pseudophakic patients with posterior capsular opacification in one eye, using the other eye as a control. Patients did not suffer any other ocular pathology. All patients were treated by posterior capsular opacification with Nd:YAG capsulotomy, and followed up for a three-month period. The ocular examination included best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), intraocular pressure (IOP), macular optical coherence tomography (OCT), and endothelial cell assessment (including densitometry, cell size and coefficient of variation, hexagonal cell percentage and pachymetry), which were determined in both eyes before treatment, and one week, one month and 3 months after capsulotomy. Results: Generalized estimating equations (GEE) were used to assess the capsulotomy effect adjusted by corresponding baseline measurements and time. No association was found between capsulotomy and IOP (p = 0.597), macular thickness (p = 0.085) or ECA densitometry (p = 0.422), average size of cells (p = 0.299), variation coefficient (p = 0.495), hexagonal cell percent (p = 0.093) and corneal pachymetry (p = 0.423). A significant increase of 0.15 Snellen units in BCVA was found during the 3-month follow-up period (p < 0.001). Conclusion: This study shows that after Nd:YAG capsulotomy, BCVA improves significantly without any IOP, OCT or ECA changes during the three-month follow-up. Nd:YAG capsulotomy is a safe procedure in pseudophakic patients without any other ocular pathology.