The causes of patients failing pre-operative cataract surgery assessment

Abstract

The causes of patients failing pre-operative cataract surgery assessment

Lee Hsin Yi^1,2, Norlina Mohd Ramli², Fiona Chew Lee Min¹         

1. Department of Ophthalmology, Hospital Selayang, Selangor. Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia


2. Department of Ophthalmology, University Malaya, Kuala Lumpur

AIM:

To report the incidence and identify causes of postponement during pre-operative cataract surgery assessment in Hospital Selayang.

METHODS:

This is a retrospective study, which examined the number of visits to Eye Clinic, Hospital Selayang for pre-operative cataract surgery assessment every Thursday from November 2016 to October 2017. We analysed the total amount of patients, the amount of defaulters and reasons for failing pre-operative assessments resulting in multiple visits to the clinic.

RESULTS:

A total of 811 appointments were scheduled for pre-operative cataract surgery assessment during the analysed period. There were 146 defaulters (22.9%), 410 who passed the pre-operative assessment (50.5%) and 255 who failed and required more than 1 visit for further investigations (39.4%). The main reasons for patients failing pre-operative assessment were uncontrolled hypertension (35.8%), cardiac diseases (26.0%), lid infections (16.7%) and uncontrolled diabetes mellitus (13.9%). There were 17 cases where patients had overlapping causes for postponement.

CONCLUSION:

Nearly a third of cases listed for cataract surgery fail their pre-operative assessment. Apart from defaulters, uncontrolled medical conditions account for the majority of postponement of cataract cases. This highlights the importance of pre-operative assessment in elective surgery among the Malaysian population.

Conflicts of interest:

Researchers have no financial interest in any products or instruments mentioned in this study.

Keywords: Pre-operative cataract surgery assessment, causes of postponement