Laser Cataract Surgery

Reporting live from AAO 2015 in Las Vegas, Sunday, November 15, 2015

Strong response to femto study

A soon-to-be published massive study that questioned the comparative efficacy of femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery drew several rounds of spontaneous applause during a symposium on new technology.

The ESCRS Femto Laser-Assisted Cataract Surgery (FLACS) case control study compared outcomes in 2,814 matched femto patients and 4,987 matched phaco patients and found 86% of femto patients had improved BCVA compared to 89.3% of phaco patients. Additionally, worse outcomes were found in 3.3% of femto patients and 1.3% of phaco patients. The study found that femto patients also had worse postop visual acuity, more postop complications, and more of them had worsened postop visual acuity.

The phaco group included “some of the top surgeons throughout Europe, and if you compared that group against the community just in phaco you would almost expect that group to do better,” said David F. Chang, MD, Los Altos, Calif. Richard B. Packard, MD, Windsor, U.K., underscored the findings in light of the greater expense for patients treated with femto for cataract.

http://david-richardson-md.com/cataracts/laser-cataract-surgery-why-you-dont-want-it/