Biometry characteristics in congenital cataract patients before surgery in a tertiary eye care centre in Nepal.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the anterior segment biometry characteristics in congenital cataract patients before undergoing surgery in a tertiary eye care centre. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the charts of congenital cataract patients aged less than 15 years who had undergone the congenital cataract surgery from Jan-Dec, 2015. 451 eyes of 351 patients were reviewed. The eyes were examined using an autorefract-keratometer, applanation A-scan and parameters like keratometry, axial length, corneal astigmatism were noted. RESULTS: The mean age at the surgery was 92.4 ±â€¯4.13 months (range 6 months to 15 years). The ratio of boys to girls was 2.34:1. The mean axial length was 21.94 ±â€¯1.94 mm. Girls had shorter axial length than boys (21.53 mm vs 22.11 mm, p = 0.01). The axial length in the cataractous eyes in bilateral cases was significantly smaller than that in the unilateral cases (21.46 mm vs 22.55 mm, p < 0.0001).The mean keratometry was 44.12 ±â€¯2.6 D. Girls had larger mean keratometry value than boys (44.71 vs 43.88, p = 0.0032). Keratometry values were higher in cataractous eyes in bilateral cases than in the unilateral cases (44.61 D vs 43.51 D, p < 0.0001). The mean corneal astigmatism was 1.49 ±â€¯1.13 D. The prevalence of the corneal astigmatism of 2.0 D or more was 25.5%. The with-the-rule astigmatism was the most frequent type (62.53%). Girls had higher mean astigmatism than boys (p = 0.0122). The mean corneal astigmatism was higher in the cataractous eyes in bilateral cases than in the unilateral cases (p = 0.0094). CONCLUSIONS: The axial length, mean keratometry and corneal astigmatism in congenital cataract patients varied with age, gender, and laterality. The data on biometry characteristics of Nepalese pediatric patients provided in the present study are of clinical significance and hence greatly enhance the guidelines for treatment decisions, IOL power calculations and management of congenital cataract patients.

Childhood corneal blindness: a retrospective study in a tertiary eye hospital of eastern region of Nepal.

INTRODUCTION: Studies from Nepal show that most of the cases of unilateral childhood blindness are due to corneal causes. It was also observed that these corneal causes were mostly preventable or treatable. OBJECTIVE: to study the patterns of corneal diseases in a pediatric out-patient department of a hospital in the eastern region of Nepal. METHODS: A retrospective study of the patients who presented to the pediatric department of our hospital in the year 2014 was done with the help of the data received from the hospital recording system. Detail examination of every case was done in the out-patient-department of the hospital by pediatric ophthalmologists. Patients with only corneal disease were included, and those with corneal disease along with other ocular disease were excluded from the study. RESULTS: Of 20,250 patients examined in the pediatric department over a one year period, 1911(9.4%) presented with isolated corneal problems. Keratitis and corneal ulcer were found in 47.8% of them. Corneal trauma was present in 5.6% and vitamin A deficiency leading to corneal opacity and keratomalacia was seen in 0.06% of the cases. Corneal blindness was observed in 66 eyes (bilateral in 3 cases). No case of trachoma or congenital corneal disease was observed. CONCLUSION: Childhood corneal blindness is mostly due to preventable and treatable causes.