Immediate Sequential Bilateral Cataract Surgery (ISBCS) in the Era of COVID-19

Alexander CD and Richard N

Moorfields Eye Hospital, London, UK The NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, Moorfields Eye Hospital, NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK UCL Institute of Ophthalmology, London, UK Department of Science, University of Portsmouth, London, UK

^*Correspondance to: Richard Newsom 

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Abstract:

Background: Immediate Sequential Bilateral Cataract Surgery (ISBCS) is not widely performed; however, the COVID-19 pandemic has rapidly altered the risk benefit profile of this surgical procedure. Methods: The literature search was undertaken on March 04th, 2021. The databases used included EMBASE, CINAHL, EMCARE, Medline and PubMed. Findings: By operating on both eyes at one sitting, one outpatient visit and one surgical visit to the hospital is saved, reducing the potential exposure to COVID infection by 50%. As cataract surgery is the most common operation world-wide, this change could potentially save almost 10 million hospital visits per year. ISBCS is widely used internationally (Finland 40%, Sweden 40%) and privately in the UK. This is due to a number of reasons including clinical concern about the risk of bilateral endophthalmitis, postoperative refractive surprise, and there being no set national tariff for provider reimbursement. Summary: The risk to benefit ratio’s for ISBCS, has been shifted by COVID-19 pandemic. The development of one stop cataract surgery, may mean that in future the patient will only visit the hospital on one occasion for their surgery and their pre- and post-op care being delivered by telemedicine, delivering all the benefits of ISBCS while reducing the risk of COVID infection while lowering the carbon footprint cause by ophthalmology.

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Cite the Article:

Alexander CD, Richard N. Immediate Sequential Bilateral Cataract Surgery (ISBCS) in the Era of COVID-19. World J Surg Surgical Res. 2023; 6: 1442..