Clinical Profile of Cystoid Macular Edema Following Small Incision Cataract Surgery

BACKGROUND This study was conducted to determine the incidence of cystoid macular edema after small incision cataract surgery by means of OCT, study the clinical profile and compare the incidence in non-diabetic and diabetic patients with and without retinopathy. METHODS This was a hospital based prospective study, conducted among 325 patients in the age group of 40 to 85 years who underwent Small Incision Cataract Surgery [SICS] conducted in Sree Mookambika Institute of Medical Sciences, Kulasekharam, Kanyakumary District, Tamil Nadu, over a period of one year from January 2022 to December 2023, after obtaining clearance from the institutional ethics committee and written informed consent from the study participants. RESULTS The incidence of CME was higher among diabetic patients when compared with non-diabetic patients and was statistically significant. Patients with a history of uveitis had a statistically significant increase (p<0.05) in the incidence of CME in the 6th postoperative week. Patients with complicated surgery with iris prolapse, vitreous prolapse, difficult nucleus delivery and posterior capsular rent had an increased incidence of CME. This was statistically significant (p<0.05) during all three postoperative evaluations. CONCLUSIONS Following cataract surgery, 18.8% of patients developed cystoid macular edema six weeks after the procedure. Three months following surgery, 13.2% had CME, which further declined to 5.2% at six months after surgery. The incidence of clinically significant cystoid macular edema was 4% at six weeks after surgery. It further declined to 1.2% at 3 months after surgery and was present in only 0.6% at 6 months after surgery. The incidence of CME was higher among the diabetic patients throughout the study when compared with non-diabetic patients and was statistically significant (p<0.01). The association between the severity of diabetic retinopathy and the incidence of cystoid macular edema was not statistically significant. Patients with a history of uveitis had a statistically significant increase (p<0.05) in the incidence of CME in the 6th postoperative week. Patients with complicated surgery with iris prolapse, vitreous prolapse, difficult nucleus delivery and posterior capsular rent had an increased incidence of CME. Patients not using topical NSAIDS were found to have an increased incidence of CME.