Comparison of refractive outcomes between femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery and conventional cataract surgery

The purpose of our study is to compare the predictive accuracy of femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery with the results of conventional cataract surgery. This prospective study included 83 eyes from 83 patients who underwent femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery and 83 eyes from 83 patients who underwent conventional cataract surgery. Preoperative IOL power calculations were performed with the partical coherence interferometry. Femtosecond laser-assisted capsulotomy was based on 5.2mm scanned capsule center. Following phacoemulsification, 1-piece IOL was inserted into the capsular bag. Refractive outcome was measured 3 months postoperatively with manual refraction. Predicted refraction was assessed by the Barret-Universal II, Haigis, Hoffer Q, SRK/T, and T2 formulas. We applied optimized IOL constants and retrospectively personalized IOL constants. There was no difference in preoperative demographic data. When the optimized IOL constants were used, the femtosecond laser-assisted group produced significantly lower MAEs in the Barret-Universal II, Hoffer Q, SRK/T, and T2 formulas (P<.05). After the personalization of IOL constants, there were statistical differences in the Barret-Universal II, Hoffer Q (P<.05). The standard deviation of ME and MedAE were also relatively lower with femtosecond laser-assisted group. In conclusion, femtosecond laser-assisted cataract surgery with Catalys femtosecond laser system produced better refractive outcomes than conventional cataract surgery.