Anaesthesia techniques for cataract surgery: a survey of delegates to the Congress of the International Council of Ophthalmology, 2002.
BACKGROUND
Cataract surgery is performed using various regional, local, or topical anaesthetic techniques and agents and general anaesthesia. As there is continuous change in the popularity of these techniques, an estimate of current anaesthetic practices for cataract surgery around the world was derived. This allows comparison of techniques and practices internationally and may serve as a baseline for future surveys.


METHODS
At the 2002 Congress of the International Council of Ophthalmology held in Sydney, Australia, ophthalmic surgeons from around the world were surveyed with regard to their anaesthetic techniques for cataract surgery.


RESULTS
It was found that almost all cataract surgery was performed using regional anaesthesia. Surgeons performed just over half of the anaesthetics; however, in some countries anaesthetists performed the vast majority of eye anaesthetics. The most frequently employed technique was the peribulbar block, but a substantial minority were performed under topical anaesthesia. An anaesthesia-trained person monitored most patients during cataract surgery, and the most commonly used local anaesthetic was lignocaine.


CONCLUSIONS
Although there is a single most frequent practice in the type of regional block employed for cataract surgery among the delegates, and general anaesthesia is seldom used, individual countries have very different results regarding the anaesthetic used and the role of the anaesthetist.
Eichel
Robert
R
Department of Anaesthesia, Sydney Hospital and Sydney Eye Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Goldberg
Ivan
I
D000772:Anesthesia, Local / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000779:Anesthetics, Local / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D002387:Cataract Extraction; D003226:Congresses as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014943:Global Health; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D009885:Ophthalmology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
D000779:Anesthetics, Local