Laser Cataract Surgery More Accurate Than Manual

Laser Cataract Surgery More Accurate Than Manual.
Cataract surgery, already an extraordinarily justifiable and successful procedure, can be made more precise by combining a laser and three-dimensional imaging, a creative study suggests. Researchers found that a femtosecond laser, used for many years in LASIK surgery, can abridged into delicate eye tissue more cleanly and accurately than manual cataract surgery, which is performed more than 1,5 million times each year in the United States vigrx. In the going round procedure, which has a 98 percent name rate, surgeons use a micro-blade to cut a circle around the cornea before extracting the cataract with an ultrasound machine.

The laser scheme uses optical coherence technology to customize each patient's comprehension measurements before slicing through the lens capsule and cataract, though ultrasound is still used to remove the cataract itself. "It takes some technique and energy to break the lens with the ultrasound," explained edge researcher Daniel Palanker, an associate professor of ophthalmology at Stanford University vigora lido spray use. "The laser helps to step on it this up and make it safer".

After practicing the laser procedure on pig eyes and donated woman eyes, Palanker and his colleagues did further experiments to confirm 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 engraving circles in lens capsules 12 times more truthful than those achieved by the stock method. No adverse effects were reported.

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

Dr Scott Greenstein, a complete ophthalmology and cataracts expert at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, said he was uneasy that the scrutinize was funded by a company with a stake in the outcome. But he added that the data was encouraging. "I from where one stands 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 rather successful. We shortage a number of centers studying this with more patients. It would be useful to see 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 upset that the laser-guided cataract surgery would be much more up-market than manual surgery and were skeptical that form insurance companies would be willing to pick up the tab. "It's a fairly expensive way to do something we do straight off now with a $120 instrument that makes the opening. It's beneficial to the extent that it can avoid a zip in the cornea - but the downside is you need a very expensive machine to do it. It's at best a little taste that adds a little precision".

Although the femtosecond laser technique is unquestionably more precise, Palanker's state that it results in a better fit for the artificial lens replacing the clouded one is dubious, Bensinger and Greenstein said. Experienced surgeons performing instructions cataract surgery rarely have trouble aligning the inexperienced lens with the pupil and keeping it in place.

So "Over the thousands of cases I've done, I'm at bottom not aware personally of this being a problem. If you have a less precise, experienced surgeon then this would be a benefit for the patient. It makes reproducible, fulfil incisions every time". Palanker said further research will converge on whether laser-guided cataract surgery results in better postoperative vision than traditional surgery full report. Among the diminutive group of study participants there was no significant difference in outcomes between the two.