Lens-Induced Glaucoma: An Audit of Cataract Cases in Hospital Sultanah Nur Zahirah, Kuala Terengganu (HSNZKT)

Abstract

INTRODUCTION Cataract is the main cause of preventable blindness worldwide and as such, it is important to identify these patients early before complications develop. Cataracts may progress to become intumescent (phacomorphic) or hypermature (phacolytic). This can lead to lens-induced glaucoma, which may subsequently cause permanent optic nerve damage. OBJECTIVE To report on lens-induced glaucoma (LIG) of cataract cases treated in Hospital Sultanah Nur Zahirah, Kuala Terengganu (HSNZKT), Malaysia. METHOD National Eye Database (Malaysia) data from 2011 till 2017 were collected and analysed. RESULTS A total of 81 (1.08%) cases of lens-induced glaucoma were calculated from 7468 cataract cases treated during the seven years of the study period. The number of cases showed an increasing trend with 0.78% in 2011 to 1.26% in 2017. Most of the patients were in the age group of 70-79 years (44.30%), followed by 60-69 years (34.18%), 50-59 years (11.39%), 80-89 years (7.59%), 40-49 years, and 90-99 years (1.27%). Most of the cases are female (57%). The majority of them (79.75%) underwent cataract operation for the first eye. CONCLUSION  Overall, this study was able to highlight the significant association between the incidence of LIG and increasing age as well as surgery series (either first or second eye). Therefore, more outreach programs should be conducted in the future to enable younger elderly patients from all areas to receive treatment. More online education and talk series can be organized to increase the community's awareness and acceptance of cataract operations.