EyeWorld is the official news magazine of the American Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgery.
Issue link: https://digital.eyeworld.org/i/194331
The Catalys Precision Laser will be used in the study. Source: OptiMedica/Abbott Medical Optics whole patient population treated every year in France," he said. He and colleagues submitted the FEMCAT study protocol to France's Ministry of Health and were given a grant to analyze the technology and how it could be "proposed to our patients for improving safety and visual results of cataract surgery." The hospital where Dr. Schweitzer is based, the University Hospital of Bordeaux, will be the coordinating center, with four university hospital centers taking part: Cochin Hospital, Paris; Brest University Hospital, Brest; Tours University Hospital, Tours; and La Croix Rousse Hospital, Lyon. Dr. Schweitzer said the procedures will be analyzed for complication rate, visual performance, and reproducibility, and compared for cost related to the perioperative and postoperative patient care. At the end of the competitive tender, they chose the Catalys Precision Laser (OptiMedica, Abbott Medical Optics, Santa Ana, Calif.) to use in the study. Potential benefits Dr. Schweitzer said that the femtosecond laser-assisted cataract technology has many potential benefits related to the nature of the procedure, and this study could add to the awareness of its benefits. "First, if femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery is proven to be safer with more reproducible visual performances in a strong prospective and comparative academic study, this technology could be recommended to patients treated every year in France," he said. Second, the study is seeking to present viable information about the overall cost of perioperative and postoperative care between both groups, he said. "These results could help us to determine exactly how femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery could benefit patients needing cataract surgery, and how this technology could impact the whole society and healthcare insurance," Dr. Schweitzer said. Third, because femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery reduces the amount of manual maneuvering in the eye, patients could be at lower risk for complications than those undergoing phaco alone. Additionally, overall energy is reduced in the eye, which could enhance ocular healing and visual acuity recovery in femtosecond laser cases. "Finally, postoperative refractive error may be reduced by a better effective position of the lens in the capsular bag," Dr. Schweitzer said. EW Reference 1. FEMCAT: impact médico-économique de la chirurgie de la cataracte au laser femtoseconde, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Bordeaux, supported by a grant from the French Ministry of Health (PSTIC 2012). Editors' note: Dr. Schweitzer is principal investigator and coordinator of the study. Contact information Schweitzer: cedric.schweitzer@chu-bordeaux.fr