Evaluation of foveal thickness after torsional phacoemulsification surgery by optical coherence tomography.

Objective To study the difference of foveal thickness（FT） with torsional and tranditional handpiece after uneventful cataract surgery determined by OCT （optical coherence tomography）. Methods Cataract phaeoemulsifieation surgery was performed with two different handpieee ：torsional and tranditional handpiece. OCT was detected to analyze the maeular retina thickness at 1 week and 6 weeks following uneventful cataract phaeoemulsification in 60 simple age-related cataract patients（64 eyes）. And study the effect on the anterior segment and foveal thickness with different phaeoemulsifieation handpiece as well as the relativity of maeular thickness with visual acuity. Results The average foveal thickness （FT） of 30 eyes in traditional handpiece group at 1 w postop- eratively was （ 195.64 ± 11.2） μm, and 34 eyes in torsional group FT was （ 163.5 ±10.8 ）μm. There were significant difference between the two groups （P 〈 0.05 ）. And at 6w postoperatively in tranditonal group FF was （223.2 ± 12.8） μm, and torsional group was （ 218.6 ± 14.2 ） μm, and there were no significant difference between two groups （ P 〉 0.05 ）. Postoperatively there was no pa- tients suffered from cystoid macular edema in both groups. And the best corrected visual acuity （BCVA） had negative correlation with foveal thickness in both two groups （ r = - 0. 75, P 〈 0.05 ）. The foveal thickness had positive correlation with the accumulated energy complex parameter （AECP）. AECP of hard nucelus group was significently higher than soft nucelus, and in soft nucleus groups the AECP of torsional group was significently lower than tranditonal group, but in hard nucleus groups there was no difference between two groups. Conclusions Both torsional and tranditional phacoemulsification can cause the increasement of foveal thickness as well as macular edema, at 1 w postoperatively torsional group has less influence on the macular thickness than tranditional group, but at 6 w postoperatively there is no difference between two groups. And the visual consequences were proportional to the degrees of macular thickening. Torsional handpiece is better than traditional one in soft nucleus group. Key words: cataract ;  OCT ;  retina thickness