The authors present the findings of a controlled clinical trial where cataract patients having surgery for both eyes at least seven days apart were given oral glycerol preoperatively when operating on the right eye. This meant that the left eye operations were not given anything preoperatively and therefore acting as a control group. They recruited 22 patients with shallow anterior chambers (ACD <2.5mm) that had cataract surgery in both eyes. A slit-lamp and retinal examination were done on all patients preoperatively along with ACD, intraocular pressure (IOP) and central corneal thickness (CCT) measurements before and after glycerol intake, while pupillary diameter measurements were taken before and after viscoelastic were introduced during the operation. Two minor complications occurred in both left and right eye groups during surgery. There was a tear in the anterior capsule in the glycerol cohort. In the control group, one patient had a tear in the anterior capsule and vitreous in the anterior chamber on day one postoperatively. The study showed that oral glycerol intake increased the anterior chamber to depth by 0.22mm (p<0.05) and decreased IOP by 5.1mmHg compared to the control group (p>0.05). Oral glycerol had no effect on CCT, pupillary dilation of viscoelastics, operating time or surgical complications. This study is limited by a small sample size and lack of a separate control group besides the patients’ other eye.
Oral glycerol effect on anterior chamber depth during cataract surgery
Reviewed by Kareem Waleed Alsaffarini
The effect of orally administered glycerol on anterior chamber depth during cataract surgery in eyes with narrow anterior chamber.
