Correlation between postoperative central corneal thickness and endothelial changes after cataract surgery by phacoemulsification in diabetic patients

Background: Diabetic individuals provide a specific problem because to their propensity for the premature development of cataracts. The objective of this research is to examine the association among characteristics after phacoemulsification in diabetic individuals, and postoperative central corneal thickness (CCT), alterations in density of corneal endothelial cell using specular microscopy. Methods: This research was carried out on a cohort of forty individuals who had uncomplicated phacoemulsification surgery for the purpose of cataract extraction. The research design was prospective, selective non-randomized and interventional. The participants were allocated into two groups of equal size. In Group one, individuals with complex cataracts received a successful phacoemulsification procedure without any complications. Group two composed of non-diabetic individuals who received phacoemulsification for the treatment of senile cataract without any complications.Results: In both non-diabetic and diabetic individuals, the preoperative corneal thickness (CCT) exhibited a positive association with the coefficient of variation (CV) and a negative association with endothelial cell count (ECC). Diabetic subjects had a negative correlation with CCT while healthy subjects had a favorable one. One and three months after surgery, CCT was negatively correlated with ECC and HEX and positively correlated with CV in the diabetes group. The logarithm of minimum angle of resolution (log MAR) of best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) exhibited a positive correlation with central CCT at the one-month postoperative mark, and a negative correlation at the three-month postoperative mark. In the non-diabetic group, there was a positive association observed among BCVA and CCT when expressed in log form. Conversely, a negative correlation was found among CV and CCT. The correlation among CCT and HEX was shown to be positive at the three-month stage of postoperative and negative at the first-month stage of postoperative. There was a positive correlation observed among CCT and ECC during the first-month postoperative period. However, at the three-month postoperative period, a negative correlation was found between CCT and ECC.Conclusions: There is an important variance of corneal endothelial loss after phacoemulsification between non-diabetic and diabetic population. Diabetic individuals demonstrated significantly more endothelial damage after phacoemulsification.