Long-term outcomes of small-incision cataract surgery in patients with uveitis

PURPOSE: To evaluate the long-term outcomes of manual small-incision cataract surgery (MSICS) in eyes with uveitis. METHODS: Patients who underwent MSICS for uveitic cataract from 2009 to 2019 were retrospectively evaluated. Visually significant cataract and presence of less than five cells per high-power field in the anterior chamber for a minimum of 3 months were the prerequisites for surgery. Patients with follow-up less than 9 months were excluded. RESULTS: After exclusion, 283 eyes of 264 patients were evaluated. The mean age of patients was 44.3 ± 11.3 years. The mean follow-up duration was 22 ± 11.5 months. The mean surgical time was 11.2 ± 3.2 min. One hundred and seventy-two eyes (60.8%) had anterior uveitis, 78 (27.5%) had posterior uveitis, and 33 (11.7%) had panuveitis. At the final follow-up, 253 eyes (88.4%) had corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA) better than 0.6 log of minimum angle of resolution (LogMAR) unit. The final endothelial cell counts were significantly (analysis of variance [ANOVA], P = 0.001) lower in eyes with human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-B27–associated uveitis and in eyes with idiopathic anterior uveitis. Patients on systemic corticosteroids had significantly better (P = 0.031) final visual acuity than those without preoperative corticosteroids. Recurrent uveitis (43.8%), Posterior capsule opacification (PCO) (19.4%), glaucoma (8.5%), cystoid macular edema (CME; 13.5%), and Epiretinal membrane (ERM) (5.6%) were the frequent complications. A significantly worse (ANOVA, P = 0.001) visual prognosis was seen in patients with Vogt–Koyanagi–Harada disease (VKH), sarcoidosis, acute posterior multifocal placoid pigment epitheliopathy (APMPPE), and serpiginous choroiditis. CONCLUSION: MSICS is safe in most cataracts due to uveitis and results in improvement in CDVA at 9 months. Posterior capsule opacification, macular edema, persistent uveitis, etiology of uveitis, and use of preoperative steroids significantly influenced the visual outcome.