The results of a new study reveal the risk for retinal detachment after phacoemulsification has almost halved for each five-year period since the cataract surgery procedure was adopted in the mid-1980s.
The study was published in the Archives of Ophthalmology and conducted by Australian researchers led by Dr. Anthony Clark of Curtin University in Perth.
The researchers looked at data on patients who underwent the procedure in Western Australia between January 1989 and December 2001. They identified those patients who required admission for retinal detatchment surgery after phacoemulsification.
In addition to revealing the decline in retinal detachment cases, the data also indicated younger patient age and male sex at surgery significantly increased risk for retinal detachment and phacoemulsification requiring anterior vitrectomy significantly increased risk for retinal detachment.
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