Visual experience during phacoemulsification cataract surgery under topical anaesthesia.

Br J Ophthalmol

Department of Ophthalmology, West Norwich Hospital, Bowthorpe Road, Norwich NR2 3TU.

Published: January 2000

Background/aims: Visual awareness during phacoemulsification cataract surgery is an important determinant of patient satisfaction with any anaesthetic technique. Topical anaesthesia could be associated with significant visual awareness because it does not affect optic nerve function.

Methods: The visual experience during phacoemulsification cataract surgery under topical anaesthesia (without sedation) was assessed for 106 consecutive unselected patients. Patients were interviewed immediately after surgery using a standardised questionnaire that explored specific aspects of their visual experience.

Results: Four patients were excluded because they had poor recollection of their visual experience. The visual awareness of the remaining 102 patients comprised operating microscope light (99), colours (73), flashes of light (7), vague movements (19), surgical instruments or other objects (12), change in light brightness during surgery (49), change in colours during surgery (30), and transient visual alteration during corneal irrigation (25). No patient found their visual experience during surgery unpleasant, though the operating microscope light was uncomfortably bright for two patients. Six patients lost light perception for a short interval during surgery. There was no association between the various visual phenomena reported and patients' age, sex, preoperative visual acuity, cataract morphology, coexisting ocular pathology, or previous experience of cataract surgery under local anaesthesia (p>0.05).

Conclusions: Patients experience a wide variety of visual sensations during phacoemulsification cataract surgery under topical anaesthesia. Topical anaesthesia does not, however, appear to result in greater visual awareness than regional anaesthesia. Preoperative patient counselling should include information about the visual experience during surgery.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1723223PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bjo.84.1.13DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

visual experience
20
cataract surgery
20
topical anaesthesia
20
phacoemulsification cataract
16
visual awareness
16
visual
14
surgery topical
12
surgery
11
experience phacoemulsification
8
patients patients
8

Similar Publications

Background: The doctor-patient relationship is essential for effective patient care, yet medical education often neglects to nurture the quality such as empathy during the initial years of training. Doctor-patient relationship is one of the modules taught in first year as part of mandatory AETCOM (Attitude, Ethics, and Communication) course in the undergraduate Indian medical curriculum. Hermeneutics, a method of interpretation, can play a vital role in introducing observational and reflective thinking skills.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Advanced Imaging of Type 2 Spinal CSF Leaks with Ultrahigh-Resolution Cone-Beam CT Myelography.

AJNR Am J Neuroradiol

January 2025

From Department of Neuroradiology (Niklas Lützen, Charlotte Zander, Horst Urbach), Medical Center - University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Germany and Department of Neurosurgery (Jürgen Beck, Florian Volz, Katharina Wolf, Amir El Rahal), Medical Center - University of Freiburg, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Germany.

Type 2 CSF leaks are spinal lateral dural tears, causing spontaneous intracranial hypotension (SIH). They may be visualized with digital subtraction myelography (DSM), cone-beam CT (CBCT) myelography, energy-integrating detector or photon-counting CT myelography. A recently introduced ultrahigh-resolution cone-beam CT (UHR-CBCT) myelography has shown beneficial visualization of CSF-venous fistula, another cause of SIH.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Traditional empathy teaching methods fall short in addressing the heightened empathy demands of in-service postgraduate nurses. Art-based approaches offer potential solutions.

Method: We adopted a mixed method study with a quasi-experimental design.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Multiple sclerosis (MS) patients frequently experience gait disturbances, which can be exacerbated in those with vestibular involvement. Various exercise approaches are available to address gait difficulties in this patient population, and the use of vestibular rehabilitation, in particular, has increased recently. However, the effects of this specific exercise approach on gait in MS patients remain unclear.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Coloured overlays improve reading speed and reading experience in patients with post-COVID-19 syndrome.

Vision Res

January 2025

Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Division of Eye and Vision, Karolinska Institute, St Erik Eye Hospital, Eugeniavägen 12 SE 171 64, Stockholm, Sweden. Electronic address:

High prevalences of visual dysfunction and reading-related symptoms have been found in patients with rehabilitation needs after COVID-19 infection. The purpose of this study was to study the effects of coloured overlays on reading speed and reading experience. Twenty-nine patients (45.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!