Visual outcomes with femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery versus conventional cataract surgery in toric IOL insertion

Background: To evaluate the visual outcomes of femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery (LCS) compared with phacoemulsification cataract surgery (PCS) in patients undergoing Toric IOL insertion.

Design: A non-randomized, single surgeon, prospective, comparative cohort case series.

Participants: Patients undergoing LCS and PCS between January 2012 and July 2014 at a single center.

Methods: The LCS group underwent femtosecond laser pretreatment for the anterior capsulotomy and lens fragmentation. Otherwise standard phacoemulsification surgery and foldable toric intraocular lens insertion proceeded.

Main Outcome Measures: Best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA), pre and post operative cylinder and mean absolute refractive error.

Results: A total of 418 eyes from 323 patients were included in the study; with 95 eyes in the PCS group and 323 in the LCS group. There were 243 (75.5%) LCS eyes with a pre-operative BCVA of 20/40 or better and 54 (56.8%) in the PCS group (p < 0.001). For post-operative BCVA, 315 (97.5 %) LCS and 81 (85.3%) PCS eyes had a BCVA of 20/40 or better (p = <0.001). However, there was no significant difference for change in BCVA between the groups (mean gain in EDTRS letter 11.0 for LCS and 10.3 for PCS p = 0.64) or in MAE (mean 0.56D PCS vs 0.65D LCS p = 0.18).

Conclusion: In patients receiving toric intraocular lenses, there is similar improvement in terms of letters gained with LCS and PCS. Overall, there is no additional benefit for patients undergoing LCS in this cohort.