Clinical characteristics and surgical outcomes of pediatric cataract in Taiwan.

PURPOSE: To report treatment of pediatric patients with cataract, and evaluate the efficiency of different surgical interventions.

METHOD: This study comprised a consecutive series of pediatric patients with congenital or developing cataract who received surgery between 1993 and 2002 at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taiwan. Patients' demographics, cataract type, presenting symptoms, surgical intervention, postoperative visual acuity, and follow-up refractive changes were recorded.

RESULTS

Three hundred and ninety-nine eyes of 246 children were included; unilateral cataract was present 21.8% of the eyes. The age at surgery was ranged from 1 to 157 months. Eyes were grouped by surgical interventions performed: Group 1 included 98 eyes that had lensectomy. Group 2 included 89 eyes that had lensectomy and secondary intraocular lens implantation. Group 3 included 212 eyes that had lensectomy with primary intraocular implantation. The mean follow up time was 41.3 months. Finally, 23.1% group 1 patients, 42.1% group 2 patients, and 63.4% group 3 patients achieved visual acuity better than 20/60 (P=0.000). Upon analysis with multifactor regression, age at onset (P=0.011) was the only significant factor related to visual outcome. Complications such as after cataract and glaucoma occurred in 21.6% and 5.8% of all patients, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Intraocular lens implantation for children with congenital or developing cataract is an effective treatment for visual rehabilitation, even for those patients age 2 years and younger.