Are steroids required to control post-operative inflammation after uncomplicated phacoemulsification surgery?

Rationale andbackground

It is standard practice toput patients on tapering doses of topical steroids after all forms of cataractsurgeries. It has been our experience that we can often switch patients toNSAID drops after a week of steroid-antibiotic drops after uncomplicatedcataract surgery. This is essentially done to avoid side-effects of topicalsteroids like secondary glaucoma, rebound iritis etc. In our practice we havebeen replacing steroids with NSAIDs primarily to avoid rebound iritis inpatients who had this complication in the first eye. It then dawned upon usthat topical NSAIDs could have an extended role in post-cataract surgeryscenario and we may be able to avoid topical steroids altogether in thiscontext. This study is proposed to establish as evidence that modern NSAIDs maysafely replace steroids one week after uncomplicated cataract surgeries.

This study is a prelude toanother study which will question whether steroids are required even during thefirst week after clean Phacoemulsification.

Relevant data isnot available for Indian population – which is also an incentive for the study.

Aims andobjectives

Primaryobjective of the study is to answer the question: “Are steroids required to controlpost-operative inflammation after uncomplicated phacoemulsification surgery?â€

We will also becollecting OCT data to look at preliminary evidence as to whether the incidenceof CME is different between the two broad treatment groups – those with steroidfollowed by NSAID and those treated with steroids throughout the course offollow up.