Effects of Cataract Surgery on Diabetic Retinopathy

ABSTRACT

The course of diabetic retinopathy following cataract extraction was studied prospectively in 45 eyes of 33 diabetics for 4-50 weeks(average duration 20 weeks). The results were as follows 1. Twenty two(81.4%) of the 29 eyes with preoperative existence of diabetic retinopathy showed a statistically higher incidence of postoperative progression of diabetic retinopathy than eight(50%) of the 16 eyes with no pre-existing diabetic retinopathy(p0.05). 4. Nephropathy is the most common preoperative systemic disease and eighteen of the 19 eyes showed the postoperative progression of diabetic retinopathy. There was no statistically significant difference regarding fasting blood sugar, pp2hr, HbA1c, total cholesterol, triglyceride, or the presence of hypertension, atherosclerosis, cardiac disease, and anemia. The only significant difference was related to the presence of nephropathy(p<0.05).