Laser Cataract Surgery More Accurate Than Manual

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

The laser policy uses optical coherence technology to customize each patient's ogle measurements before slicing through the lens capsule and cataract, though ultrasound is still utilized to remove the cataract itself. "It takes some facility and energy to break the lens with the ultrasound," explained contribute to researcher Daniel Palanker, an associated professor of ophthalmology at Stanford University myextendershop.com. "The laser helps to fly this up and make it safer".

After practicing the laser action on pig eyes and donated human eyes, Palanker and his colleagues did further experiments to ensure 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 share circles in lens capsules 12 times more truthful than those achieved by the well-known method. No adverse gear were reported.

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

Dr Scott Greenstein, a sweeping ophthalmology and cataracts maven at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, said he was uneasy that the into or was funded by a house with a ante in the outcome. But he added that the data was encouraging. "I in person 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 degree successful. We beggary a tally of centers studying this with more patients. It would be useful to discover 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 responsibility that the laser-guided cataract surgery would be much more extravagant than vade-mecum surgery and were skeptical that health insurance companies would be willing to pluck up the tab. "It's a fairly expensive way to do something we do accurately now with a $120 instrument that makes the opening. It's healthful to the extent that it can avoid a tear in the cornea - but the downside is you destitution a very expensive machine to do it. It's at best a little development that adds a little precision".

Although the femtosecond laser technique is unquestionably more precise, Palanker's seek 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 seldom have skin aligning the new lens with the pupil and keeping it in place.

So "Over the thousands of cases I've done, I'm real not knowledgeable personally of this being a problem. If you have a less precise, prepared surgeon then this would be a benefit for the patient. It makes reproducible, superlative incisions every time". Palanker said further research will spotlight on whether laser-guided cataract surgery results in better postoperative vision than habitual surgery jaitoon tal spenis oil. Among the small group of study participants there was no significant conversion in outcomes between the two.