Operating Times With Traditional Cataract Surgery and 2 Femtosecond Laser Platforms Enabling Cataract Surgery
Purpose
To assess the time of surgery with traditional cataract surgery and femtosecond laser (FS) assisted cataract surgery using 2 different FS platforms.
Methods
Retrospective study including 403 eyes. The study was performed at Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL. Eyes were divided into 3 groups: in Group 1 (276 eyes), cataract extraction was performed traditionally; in Group 2 (50 eyes) , cataract surgery was performed with Catalys (FS laser platform from AMO, Irvine, CA) and in Group 3 (77 eyes), cataract surgery was performed with LenSx (FS laser platform from Alcon, Fort worth, TX). Total time of surgery (Time in room – Time out room) was recorded for each group.
Results
Mean time of surgery was 29.9+/-6.2 min in Group 1, 36.1+/-9.3 min in Group 2 and 39.9+/-9.4 min in Group 3. There was a statistically significant difference between groups as determined by one-way ANOVA (F(2,400) = 3325.2, p<0.001). The difference in time of surgery in the traditional group was statistically significantly different from the LenSx group (p<0.001) and Catalys group (p<0.001). The difference in total time of surgery between the 2 FS laser platforms was also statistically significant (p=0.013). However, intraoperative aberrometry (ORAnge, Wavetec Vision) was used in a greater number of LenSx cases (35.3%) than Catalys.
Conclusion
Traditional cataract surgery is less time-consuming than FS cataract surgery. However, the delays associated with surgeon rotation on multiple operating rooms and the use of intraoperative aberrometry (more frequent with FS cataract surgery) have to be taken into account to analyze these outcomes.