gms | German Medical Science

The CTR has just been FDA-approved in the US. Purpose of our study was to report the indication and clinical outcome of all CTR implantations in a large series of consecutive cataract surgeries during the last five years in a European university teaching hospital setting.

We reviewed the records of 9528 consecutive cataract surgeries during the years 1997 to 2001 for CTR implantation. The records were checked for indication and clinical outcome of CTR implantation.

In this series a CTR was implanted in 69 eyes of 67 patients; The indication was advanced or mature cataract in 40, posttraumatic cataract in 23, PEX in 4 and suluxated lens in 2 eyes. Intraokular lens (IOL) implantation was possible in 61 (90%) of 68 eyes in the capsular bag, and in 6 eyes (8%) in the sulcus region. Only once (2%) an anterior chamber lense had to be inserted despite prior CTR implantation. In 5 eyes (5%) slight decentration of the IOL was noted postoperatively, but none of these patients had visually relevant decentration (e.g. monocular diplopia).

We noted that CTR implantation is rarely necessary, but is useful in cataract surgeries with difficult preoperative or intraoperative conditions.If zonulolysis is less than two quadrants implantation of an IOL was possible in 98% of the eyes, in 90% even in the capsular bag. Implantation of CTRs with special designs may have additional advantages (eg. inhibition of posterior capsule opacification) and warrant further investigation.