icine
NSAIDs in cataract surgery actually affects rates of postoperative macular edema, whether one NSAID is superior to the other, or which patients benefit the most from postsurgery NSAIDs. He was co-author of a study that examined these points. He won first prize for “Excellence in Ophthalmic Research” from the Canadian Ophthalmological Society (COS). A prospective, placebo-controlled, double-masked randomized trial was performed in which 162 patients were dosed with drops for one month with either one of the two topical NSAIDs, or placebo, starting one day before surgery. A total of 54 patients were randomly placed into each of the four treatment groups. Health-related quality-of-life metrics were determined with the Comparison of Ophthalmic Medications for Tolerability (COMTOL) questionnaire. Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) measures were performed before surgery and again one month after. At one month, it was found there was no statistically significant difference between the various OCT measures tested between the groups. COMTOL questionnaire results showed no significant differences across the groups in terms of frequency of side-effects, or limitations to activities due to side-effects. “Previous research has shown that for cataract patients with risk factors or complicated surgery, ketorolac works well at decreasing macular edema,” Dr. Almeida said. But in patients whose surgery is not complicated (such as with vitreous complications) and where no risk factors, such as retinal vascular disease, are present, the study showed there are no benefits from the NSAIDs, at least as shown by OCT findings.