[Correction of corneal astigmatism in femtosecond laser-assisted cataract extraction surgery].

Purpose: To perform a comparative analysis of clinical and functional results and efficiency of corneal astigmatism correction after femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery (FLACS) with implantation of toric intraocular lens (TIOL) and in combination with arcuate keratotomy (FL-AC).

Material And Methods: The examination included 60 patients (60 eyes). The first group consisted of 30 patients (30 eyes) who underwent FLACS with implantation of TIOL (Acrysof IQ Toric, Alcon, U.S.A.); the second group consisted of 30 patients (30 eyes) who underwent FLACS in combination with FL-AC. The examination was carried out before the operation, on the 3 day and 3 months after surgery. Corneal astigmatism correction efficiency was analyzed using the Alpins method and graphical vector analysis.

Results: Uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA) indices increased to 0.70±0.24 and 0.66±0.31 in the FLACS with TIOL and FLACS with FL-AC groups, respectively, without statistically significant differences between the groups (=0.03). The value of the residual cylinder was significantly lower in the FLACS with TIOL group (-0.77±0.58 and -0.80±0.39) compared with FLACS with FL-AC (-1.08±0.81 and -1.18±0.63) both on day 3 (=0.02), and 3 months after surgery (=0.02). In the FLACS with TIOL group, a higher correction index (0.99±0.18) and a smaller difference vector (0.77±0.64) were achieved compared to the FLACS with FL-AC group (0.78±0.35 and 1.05±0.76, respectively). Corneal higher-order aberrations (HOA) significantly differed on the 3 day after surgery in the 3.0 mm (=0.04) and 5.0 mm (=0.04) zones between the groups. Endothelial cells density was 2460.50±328.40 and 2526.125±196.74 cl/mm after 3 months of observation in the FLACS with TIOL and FLACS with FL-AC groups, respectively (=0.61).

Conclusion: Both methods had comparable visual acuity results (=0.03). FLACS with TIOL provided more effective correction of the cylindrical component of refraction to 3.0 D.