Determinants of posterior capsular opacity after cataract surgery: a cross-sectional study

Background: Posterior capsular opacification (PCO) which is also known as “after cataract” or “secondary cataract”, is the most common complication of cataract surgery, with an incidence of 20-50%. The current study was conducted in a tertiary hospital of Odisha with an objective to find out the determinants of PCO among patients with defective vision attending the outdoor patient department of Ophthalmology.Methods: A hospital based descriptive study was conducted among the patients attending the ophthalmology out patient department of a tertiary hospital of Odisha. The detail history regarding the type of surgical procedure used for cataract extraction and the type of Intra Ocular Lens (IOL) implanted, duration of post-operative period was collected from the available documents and ophthalmic examination of the participants.Results: In the present study, 184 participants were included and examined. Fifty percent of the participants had undergone conventional extra capsular cataract extraction procedure. In 86.95% participants, the IOL used was Poly Methyl Methacrylate lens (PMMA). In 26.08% of the participants the development of PCO was within 12 to 36 months of cataract surgery. The average duration of PCO development recorded for participants <20 years was 3 months.Conclusions: Most of the participants included in the study with PCO had undergone conventional ECCE surgery, implanted PMMA lens, IOL with round edge and had a duration of 12-36 months between cataract surgery and PCO development. The average duration of PCO development is less among younger participants which gradually increases with increase in age