Clinical Profile of Paediatric Cataract and Surgery in a Tertiary Eye Care Centre, Nepal

Introduction: Paediatric cataract is the opacification of lens and its capsule in children below 14 years of age. The management of paediatric cataract is lens aspiration with or without anterior vitrectomy, with or without intra-ocular lens implantation. The objective was to present the profile of pediatric cataract of operated eyes in children ≤14 years. Materials and Methods: This was a descriptive study in a hospital setting. A review of pediatric cataract cases operated between November 2007 and June 2009 in Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology (TIO), a tertiary eye care centre in Nepal was carried out. The personal profile, preoperative and intra-operative details were noted. In the statistical analysis p value less than 0.05 is considered as significant. Results: A total of 175 eyes of 132 children had presented during study. The sex ratio was 1.6 male per female with mean age of 6.7 years (SD ±4.3). About one-third (32%) presented within the age of three years where as more than two-fifths (46%) presented at the age eight years and above. Seventy two cases were collected through door to door enumeration and screening clinics for children. The proportion of cataract was higher in males than in females (P>0.05). Visual acuity ranged from 6/18 to follows light. Conclusion: Nearly half of the paediatric cataract had presented after the age of eight years mainly from hilly region through the screening program. Most of the pediatric cataract cases presented with the whitish pupillary reflex with more than two-thirds of visual acuity of less than 3/60. The most common type of the cataract surgery performed was lens aspiration with anterior vitrectomy with lens implantation. The earlier the surgery better is the visual prognoses. Hence, community screening through as door to door screening and one day screening clinics will help for early referral and earlier surgery to reduce visual disabilities due to paediatric cataract. Key words: Cataract; Cataract surgery; Childhood blindness; Nepal DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/jnps.v32i1.5378    J. Nepal Paediatr. Soc. Vol.32(1) 2012 14-18