Surgically Induced Astigmatism (SIA) After Superior Scleral Incision in Small Incision Cataract Surgery (SICS) Vs Phacoemulsification

Objective: This study aims to determine Surgically Induced Astigmatism (SIA) after Superior Scleral Incision in Small Incision Cataract Surgery (SICS) Vs Phacoemulsification in the inpatient department of a tertiary care centre of Gujarat. Design: It was a Prospective Randomized Interventional study which was carried out at the Department of Ophthalmology, Medical College and S.S.G Hospital, Vadodara for one-year period. Subjects: 100 eyes of 100 patients admitted in eye ward at SSG Hospital undergoing cataract surgery above 40 years of age with uncomplicated senile cataract were considered. Methods: It was a prospective randomized study. Patients who were enrolled for cataract extraction either by SICS or Phacoemulsification underwent assessment of visual acuity on Snellen?s chart both unaided and aided and keratometry on Bausch and Lomb manual keratometer in vertical (90 0) i.e. K1 and horizontal (180 0) i.e. K2 preoperatively and postoperatively on day 1st, 7th, 21st, 45th.Surgically Induced Astigmatism (SIA) was calculated by Algebraic Subtraction Technique. P values less than 0.05 were considered as statistically significant. Results: At postop day 45, in Phaco group 12 (30.8%) patients, in SICS group 29 (61.7%) patients had postoperative astigmatism greater than 1.5 D. On applying the t test, the difference between the two groups was statistically significant (pless than 0.0001). Conclusion: Our study demonstrates that the least amount of astigmatism is induced when cataract extraction is done by Phacoemulsification by making 3.2 mm superior scleral incision than with small incision cataract surgery (SICS) by making 6mm superior scleral incision.