Comparison of postoperative astigmatism with incisions of varying length closed with horizontal sutures and with no sutures.

Four groups of cataract patients having phacoemulsification with a scleral tunnel incision were studied. Three groups had incision lengths of 5.0, 6.0, and 6.5 mm closed with a single horizontal suture. The fourth group of patients had 5.0 mm incisions without suture closure. We found no statistical difference between these groups in the vector astigmatic changes over a four week period and subsequently over a 6.9 +/- 3.7 week period. The patients in all groups returned to their preoperative astigmatic values within one to two weeks within the statistical significance achieved in this study.

Endothelial cell density after posterior chamber lens implantation.

Endothelial cell loss was determined by specular microscopy in 50 patients after extracapsular cataract extraction and posterior chamber lens implantation. An age-matched group of unoperated fellow eyes and normal phakic eyes comprised the control group. For this series, 14.7% of the central corneal endothelial cells were lost as a result of cataract surgery and lens implantation. These patients are the first group to receive a Shearing lens implant.

Serum complement concentrations, nutritional status and the outcome of measles and measles pneumonia.

A prospective study of children with measles has shown a significant association between malnutrition and a poor prognosis. Levels of a number of complement components bore no relationship to the severity of the disease or to its prognosis. Some of the children with acute measles had depressed serum concentrations of factor D, Clq or C3, but complement deficiency does not appear to be implicated in the heightened susceptibility to secondary bacterial and viral infection so commonly found after acute measles.