Predicting postoperative visual outcomes in cataract patients with maculopathy

PURPOSE: To assess the accuracy of the potential acuity meter (PAM) in predicting postcataract surgery visual acuity outcome in patients with healed inactive maculopathies. STUDY DESIGN: Prospective interventional clinical trial. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients scheduled for phacoemulsification had preoperative and 1 month postoperative best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), PAM test, fluorescein angiography, and macular optical coherence tomography. Patients were grouped to following preoperative BCVA: PRE1: 0.29 and better, PRE2: 0.25–0.13, and PRE3: 0.1 or worse; age: G1 <60, G2 = 60–70, and G3 >70 years. PAM accuracy was divided into: Grade 1: Postoperative BCVA ≤1 or less line error of the PAM score, Grade 2: Between 1 and 2 lines error, and Grade 3: ≥3 lines or more error. RESULTS: This study enrolled 57 patients with a mean age of 71.05 ± 6.78 years where 34 were females. There were 21 (36.84%) patients with diabetic maculopathy and 36 (63.16%) with age-related macular degeneration. The mean preoperative BCVA was 0.198 ± 0.12 (0.1–0.5). The mean PAM score was 0.442 ± 0.24 (0.1–1.3). The mean postoperative BCVA was 0.4352 ± 0.19 (0.17–1.00). The PAM score was in Grade 1, 2, and 3 in 46 (80.7%), 54 (94.7%), and 56 (98.2), respectively. There was a highly significant correlation between the PAM score and the postoperative BCVA (P < 0.001, Chi-square test). There was no correlation between the PAM test accuracy and age, gender, diagnosis, and preoperative BCVA (P = 0.661, 0.667, 0. 0.991, 0.833, Chi-square test; respectively). CONCLUSION: The PAM is an accurate method of predicting postoperative visual acuity for eyes with nuclear cataracts Grade I and II and inactive maculopathies.