Macular Optical Coherence Tomography before Cataract Surgery

PURPOSE: To determine the benefits of performing preoperative spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) and to identify occult macular pathologies in patients scheduled for routine cataract surgery. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, macular SD-OCT scans were performed on all patients with clinically undetected macular abnormalities who were scheduled for cataract surgery. Patients with clinically evident macular abnormalities were excluded from the study. A retinal specialist reviewed all the scans. The severity of the cataract was determined using the Oxford Clinical Cataract Classification and Grading System. RESULTS: Of the 598 evaluated cases, 33 patients (5.52%) had an occult macular abnormality. The most common pathology found in these patients was idiopathic epiretinal membrane, which was detected in 17 eyes (51.52%), followed by vitreomacular traction in nine eyes (27.27%), and dry age-related macular degeneration in four eyes (12.12%). Full-thickness macular holes and a lamellar macular hole were found in two patients (6.06%) and one patient (3.03%), respectively. The frequency of cortical cataracts was significantly lower in patients without macular lesions (P = 0.012) than in those with macular lesions. Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that age >70 years (P = 0.025 and odds ratio [OR] =11.12), smoking history (P = 0.043 and OR = 3.43), and hypertension were independently associated with occult macular lesions. The surgical plan was changed for five patients (0.83%). CONCLUSIONS: Macular SD-OCT can be used to detect occult macular lesions and provide useful information about a macula before cataract surgery. Although preoperative OCT found macular abnormalities in about 5% of patients with presumed normal fundus examination, it can result in changing the surgical plan in 0.83% of all patients.