Abstract
These studies were performed to investigate the complications affecting the vision after extracapsular lens extraction(ECE), the effects of an I/A (irrigation & aspiration)device and a viscoelastic material used on the vision, the occurrence of complications and the effective corneal incision method to reduce the corneal opacity in dogs. ECE was performed bilaterally with 3 different methods using clinically normal twele mixed dogs; the method in which I/A device and viscoelastic material were not used, the method in which I/A device was used but viscoelastic material not, and the method in which I/A device and viscoelastic material were used. Postoperative complications were observed as followed; conjunctival injection, uveitis, corneal opacity due to endothelial cell loss, hyphemia, remnants of lens cortex, vitreous loss, synechia and capsular opacity. Preservation rate of vision was lower significantly in the cases showing signs of synechia, capsular opacity, or remnants of lens cortex than the cases not showing the above signs(p<0.01). There were significant reduction of the complications such as corneal opacity, clot in anterior chamber in the group using I/A device compared to the group in which I/A device was not used(p<0.01). Groups using I/A device showed slightly higher vision than the group not using I/A device (75%; 42%). There were no significant differences in the occurrence rate of complications and the preservative rate of vision between the groups with and without viscoelastic material. The present study indicated that the postoperative complications of posterior synechia, capsular opacity, uveitis and vistreous loss were important factors affecting the vision and that I/A device was applicable to extract the lens cortex and effective to elevate the success rate after ECE in dogs.
