Study Status: Completed
Recruit Status: Completed
Study Type: Interventional
Official Title:
Brief Summary:
Age-related cataract is the main cause of impaired vision in the elderly population worldwide. In the UK, more than half of people who are over 65 have some cataract development in one or both eyes. The only treatment that can restore functional visual ability is cataract surgery where the opacified crystalline lens is removed by phacoemulsification and an artificial intraocular lens is implanted. It is estimated that around 10 million cataract operations are performed around the world each year. Cataract operations are generally very successful, with a low risk of serious complications. The most common risk is developing a condition called posterior capsule opacification (PCO), which causes impaired vision to return.
During the past two decades, cataract surgery underwent tremendous change and modernisation resulting in today's small incision phacoemulsification surgery and a safe technique with a short rehabilitation time for the patient. The most frequent long-term complication of cataract surgery remains to be posterior capsule opacification (PCO). In the past few years, refinements in surgical technique and modifications in IOL design and material have led to a decrease in the incidence of PCO.
It has been shown that a sharp posterior optic edge inhibits migration of lens epithelial cells (LEC) behind the IOL optic and therefore have a lower incidence of posterior capsule opacification (PCO). Most IOL designs have open-loop haptics that are connected to the optic towards the end of the production process, also called multipiece designs.
For several reasons such as better ease of use with injector systems and higher efficiency in the production process, companies have developed IOLs with open-loop haptics out of one block of material, also called single-piece designs. I