Prevalence of macular abnormalities identified only by optical coherence tomography in Brazilian patients with cataract.

Purpose: To assess the prevalence of macular abnormalities not suspected by the biomicroscopic fundus examination and identified only by macular optical coherence tomography (OCT) in the preoperative evaluation for cataract surgery in a large series of Brazilian patients.

Setting: Private practice, Recife, Brazil.

Design: Retrospective case series.

Methods: All eyes that had cataract surgery by the same physician between August 2014 and July 2016 were eligible. Excluded were eyes with a previous diagnosis of macular abnormalities, with a suspicious biomicroscopic fundus examination, and without OCT results. Based on the preoperative macular OCT, patients were divided into the following 2 groups: those with a normal OCT and those with an abnormal OCT.

Results: Nine hundred fifty-two eyes (614 patients) were included in the study. Macular OCT identified abnormalities in 47 eyes (4.9%) of 44 patients (7.2%). Thirty-one eyes (3.3%) had epiretinal membrane, 7 (0.7%) had age-related macular degeneration, 4 (0.4%) had intraretinal cysts, 4 (0.4%) had a lamellar hole, and 1 (0.1%) had a macular hole. Patients with an abnormal OCT had a statistically significant higher mean age (P = .004).

Conclusion: In the preoperative evaluation for cataract surgery in Brazilian patients, 7.2% of those with a normal biomicroscopic fundus examination had macular abnormalities that were identified only by OCT.