Laser Cataract Surgery More Accurate Than Manual

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

The laser plan uses optical coherence technology to customize each patient's comprehension measurements before slicing through the lens capsule and cataract, though ultrasound is still used to remove the cataract itself. "It takes some deftness and energy to break the lens with the ultrasound," explained outdo researcher Daniel Palanker, an associate professor of ophthalmology at Stanford University. "The laser helps to go like a bat out of hell this up and make it safer".

After practicing the laser procedure on pig eyes and donated hominid eyes, Palanker and his colleagues did further experiments to confirm 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 draw circles in lens capsules 12 times more unyielding than those achieved by the conventional method. No adverse effects were reported.

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

Dr Scott Greenstein, a broad ophthalmology and cataracts expert at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, said he was uneasy that the probing was funded by a company with a stake in the outcome. But he added that the data was encouraging. "I for oneself 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 positively successful. We constraint a number of centers studying this with more patients. It would be useful to see 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 apprehension that the laser-guided cataract surgery would be much more overpriced than manual surgery and were skeptical that condition insurance companies would be willing to pick up the tab. "It's a fairly expensive way to do something we do fact now with a $120 instrument that makes the opening. It's beneficial to the extent that it can avoid a dash in the cornea - but the downside is you need a very expensive machine to do it. It's at best a little delicacy that adds a little precision".

Although the femtosecond laser technique is unquestionably more precise, Palanker's assert that it results in a better fit for the artificial lens replacing the clouded one is dubious, Bensinger and Greenstein said. Experienced surgeons performing handbook cataract surgery rarely have trouble aligning the untrained lens with the pupil and keeping it in place.

So "Over the thousands of cases I've done, I'm definitely not aware personally of this being a problem. If you have a less precise, experienced surgeon then this would be a benefit for the patient. It makes reproducible, excellent incisions every time". Palanker said further research will convergence on whether laser-guided cataract surgery results in better postoperative vision than traditional surgery real aunties masterpyce candids sexy bath. Among the pint-sized group of study participants there was no significant difference in outcomes between the two.