Guidelines for cataract surgery based on European data

This article provides cataract surgery guidelines based on data included in the European Registry of Quality Outcomes for Cataract and Refractive Surgery (EUREQUO). This three-year project was co-funded by the European Union and the European Society of Cataract & Refractive Surgeons. It aims to improve treatment and standards of care for cataract and refractive surgery and to develop evidence-based guidelines for cataract and refractive surgery across Europe.

Eleven national European societies participated in the project. Surgeons from all participating societies contributed to the database, which in November 2011 contained data on 820,000 cataract surgeries.

The current guidelines are based on data entered from January 1, 2009, to August 28, 2011 (523,921 cataract extractions). They contain only those steps in the cataract surgery process that can be analyzed by the database.

These steps or variables include: first- or second-eye surgery, outpatient or inpatient surgery, demographic data, preoperative examination (visual acuity, refraction), ocular comorbidity, surgical difficulty, type of anesthesia, type of surgery, type of IOL material, use of premium IOLs, surgical complications, visual outcome, refractive outcome, and postoperative complications.