Visual acuity following cataract surgeries in relation to preoperative appropriateness ratings.

The authors initiated this study to consider if the formal preoperative assessment of appropriate or inappropriate utilization of cataract surgery by an expert panel could predict postoperative improvement or decline in visual acuity. They evaluated the association between ratings of appropriateness, as determined by the RAND-UCLA method, and measurements of postoperative visual acuity using Fisher's exact tests for tables greater than 2 x 2. For 768 patients, improvement of at least 2 Snellen chart lines occurred in 89% of surgeries rated as appropriate or appropriate and crucial, 68% rated as uncertain, and 36% rated as inappropriate (P < 0.

Visual function impairments in relation to gender, age, and visual acuity in patients who undergo cataract surgery.

Purpose: This study aimed to determine the relationship between visual function impairment in 776 patients who had extracapsular cataract extraction with posterior chamber intraocular lens implantation and gender, age, preoperative visual acuity (VA) of both the operative and the contralateral eye, and presence of other ocular disease in the operative eye.

Design: Retrospective cross-sectional study.

Participants: 1139 patients whose medical records were abstracted and who had cataract surgery performed at 1 of 10 participating academic medical centers in 1990.

Documentation patterns before cataract surgery at ten academic centers.

Purpose: To determine the adequacy of documenting the preoperative evaluation for cataract surgery using criteria derived from published practice guidelines.

Methods: In 1990, 1139 surgeries that were performed on 1139 patients at ten institutions of the Academic Medical Center Consortium were reviewed for completeness of documentation of the preoperative evaluation. Criteria for completeness were derived from the American Academy of Ophthalmology Preferred Practice Pattern on cataract evaluation and the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research-sponsored guidelines.

Assessment of appropriateness of cataract surgery at ten academic medical centers in 1990.

Purpose: To develop criteria for the appropriateness of cataract surgery (extracapsular cataract extraction or phacoemulsification with planned implantation of a posterior chamber intraocular lens) and to apply these criteria to patients from ten academic medical centers.

Methods: The study is a retrospective case series from ten academic medical centers. One thousand one hundred thirty-nine patients who had had cataract surgery in 1990 at the medical centers were selected randomly.