Evaluation of corneal endothelial cell loss in different grades of nucleus during phacoemulsification

Introduction: Phacoemulsification is now commonly used surgical procedure for cataract. The endothelial celldamage duringphacoemulsification can be caused by factors such as irrigation flow, turbulence and movementof fluids, presence of air bubbles, direct trauma caused by the instruments or lens fragments, and the phacoemulsification time and power needed to achieve nuclear emulsification. Grade of nucleus sclerosis affect the corneal endothelial cell loss in phacoemulsification. Methods: We concluded the study in 500 cases of cataract and found that loss of corneal endothelial cells increases with increasing the grade of nucleus sclerosis. Many methods have evolved in recent years to enhance the efficacy of nuclear management during phacoemulsification. The main purpose of these techniques is to mechanically break the nucleus into smaller fragments with the help of a second instrument, which helps decrease the use of ultrasound power in nuclear emulsification and reduces surgical time and limiting endothelial damage. Results: The average percentage loss of cells during our study was 14.5% which was highly significant (0.981). Conclusion:In our study we concluded that the endothelial cell damage increases with increase in nucleus hardness.