Comparison of Cumulative Dissipated Energy and Operative Time Between Femtosecond Laser-Assisted Cataract Surgery and Traditional Phacoemulsification Cataract Surgery
Narrative Responses:
Purpose
To compare the efficiency of femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery as an emerging modality to traditional phacoemulsification cataract surgery as a function of CDE and operative time.
Methods
Retrospective chart review of patients undergoing femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery between January 2013 to September 2013 by one single surgeon in one surgical center; 64 patients with 94 eyes were identified. Femtosecond surgeries were further classified as cases in first 6 months versus subsequent months. An additional 94 eyes from patients undergoing traditional phacoemulsification surgery by the same surgeon were age-, sex- and eye-matched for controls. CDE and operative time for all cases were statistically compared by student T-test.
Results
The average CDE for femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery versus traditional phacoemulsification was 7.31 and 6.10 (p=0.20), respectively. Operative time averages for femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery versus traditional phacoemulsification were 16.63 minutes and 13.28 minutes (p<0.01), respectively. When analyzing the data to look at the initial 6 months of femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery compared to subsequent months (CDE 7.54 and 6.93; operative time 17.81 and 14.91), there was no staistically significant differences after the first 6 months compared to traditional phacoemulsification for CDE (p=0.85) and operative time (p=0.98).
Conclusion
Femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery is an emerging technology as an alternative to traditional phacoemulsification. As with any new surgical technique, there is an initial increase in operative time due to learning and comfort level, however, eventual CDE and operative times are equivalent between both modalities.