title: Surgical outcomes of congenital and developmental cataracts in Japan.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To retrospectively analyze the surgical outcomes of congenital/developmental cataracts in Japan.
  
  
  METHODS
  A mail questionnaire was sent to facilities engaged in surgical treatment of congenital cataracts.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-nine facilities reported on 809 eyes of 508 patients with congenital/developmental cataracts. Three hundred fifty-nine eyes underwent intraocular lens implantation (pseudophakia group), while 450 eyes were left aphakic (aphakia group). The average age at surgery was significantly higher in the pseudophakia group (70 ± 53 months) than in the aphakia group (14 ± 24 months) (P < 0.0001). A significantly larger proportion of patients with unilateral cataract (52.0 %) received IOL implantation than did those with bilateral cataracts (42.6 %) (P = 0.0224). The prevalence of associated ocular disorders, such as nystagmus, microcornea, nanophthalmos, and persistent fetal vasculature, was significantly higher in the aphakia group than in the pseudophakia group. Postoperatively, glaucoma developed more frequently in the aphakia group (5.8 %) than in the pseudophakia group (0.7 %) (P = 0.0003). Posterior capsule opacification developed more frequently in the pseudophakic eyes even when both posterior capsulotomy and anterior vitrectomy were performed, especially in patients aged 1 year or younger. Postoperative visual acuity was significantly better in the pseudophakia group than in the aphakia group, both in the unilateral and in the bilateral cases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Surgeons tended to select IOL implantation, rather than to leave the eye aphakic, in patients who were older at the time of surgery, had fewer coexisting ocular disorders, and suffered from unilateral cataract. Under such circumstances, pseudophakic eyes obtained significantly better postoperative visual acuity than did aphakic eyes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Kyorin University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.|Nagamoto Eye Clinic, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshiyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nagamoto
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennoudai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8575, Japan. oshika@eye.ac.
authors.forename: Tetsuro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Oshika
authors.affiliation: Department of Applied Visual Science, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita, Japan.
authors.forename: Takashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fujikado
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Kyushu University, Graduate School of Medicine, Fukuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: Tatsuro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ishibashi
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.
authors.forename: Miho
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Mie University Graduate School of Medicine, Tsu, Japan.
authors.forename: Mineo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kondo
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Iwate Medical University, Morioka, Japan.
authors.forename: Daijiro
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kurosaka
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology and Cell Biology, National Center for Child Health and Development, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Noriyuki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Azuma
mesh_terms: D002386:Cataract / Q000151:congenital*; D002387:Cataract Extraction / Q000379:methods*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D019654:Lens Implantation, Intraocular; D008297:Male; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D012029:Refraction, Ocular; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Cataract surgery; Congenital cataract; Contact lens; Developmental cataract; Intraocular lens