மருத்துவ மற்றும் பரிசோதனை கண் மருத்துவ இதழ்
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சுருக்கம்

The Interdictive Tyranny of Dense Cataract Meets Century-Old Maddox Rod in Potential Vision Testing

Ezekiel N. Ekweremadu, Umeh RE, Onwasigwe EN

Cataract surgery is the leading curative surgical intervention globally and a dense cataract impedes adequate preoperative evaluation of structures distal to the opaque lens. An effective potential vision test will have to over-come this ‘road block’. The aim of the present study is to assess the ability of Maddox rod to transcend dense cataract in potential vision testing. One hundred and twenty-three (123) eyes of 107 patients booked for elective small-incision cataract surgery were preoperatively assessed with Maddox rod. Eighty-eight (88) eyes were cataract blind. The responses were categorized into grades 1-4 with grade 1 having the best possible response while grade 4 had the poorest response. The mean postoperative visual acuity outcomes of grade 1-4 eyes were 0.441 ± 0.179, 0.440 ± 0.128, 0.432 ± 0.093 and 0.273 ± 0.159 respectively. Grade 3 responding eyes were few (n=5) and were not analyzed further. The mean visual acuity outcome for grade 1 response eyes (0.441 ± 0.179 SD) and grade 2 response eyes (0.440 ± 0.12845) were not significantly different statistically (t=0.240{99}p=0.981). There was a statistically significant difference (t=3.59{101} p=0.001) between the means of the visual outcome of grade 1 response eyes (0.442 ± 0.179 SD) and grade 4 response eyes (0.273 ± 0.159). The over-all sensitivity and specificity of the test were 46.9% and 75.2% respectively. These values were minimally impacted by increased cataract density (sensitivity of 48.3% and specificity of 71.4%).

Maddox rod is a viable alternative in the potential vision testing of cataract-blind eyes that could interdict and make effective even the most advanced posterior segment image-acquisition equipment.