title: Complications of pediatric cataract surgery.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Cataract surgery in young children poses different challenges and potential complications compared to those encountered in adult populations. We performed a literature review of the complications of pediatric cataract surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  Literature review of complications of pediatric cataract surgery.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Complications in children vary based on the age of the patient at surgery and the cause of the cataract. Common events discussed include increased inflammatory response, opacification of the posterior capsule, lens reproliferation, pupillary membrane, and amblyopia; less common events include infections, significant bleeding, and retinal detachment.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Complications after cataract surgery in children are often associated with a robust inflammatory reaction or secondary opacity and, in infants, glaucoma. Late complications can occur decades later, so that long-term follow-up is required. Though surgery carries significant risks, the consequences of no surgery and irreversible deprivation amblyopia in very young children should be considered.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School , Boston, Massachusetts , USA.
authors.forename: Mary C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Whitman
authors.forename: Deborah K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Vanderveen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001036:Aphakia, Postcataract / Q000209:etiology; D002386:Cataract / Q000151:congenital*; D002387:Cataract Extraction / Q000009:adverse effects*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003316:Corneal Diseases / Q000209:etiology; D009877:Endophthalmitis / Q000209:etiology; D005901:Glaucoma / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D019654:Lens Implantation, Intraocular; D012164:Retinal Diseases / Q000209:etiology
keywords: Aphakia; aphakic glaucoma; complications; congenital cataract; pediatric cataract