Effectiveness and safety of minimally invasive anchoring hook intraocular lens interscleral suture fixation surgery

Objective  To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of minimally invasive anchoring hook intraocular lens (IOL) interscleral suture fixation surgery.

Methods  A cohort study was conducted.A total of 74 patients (74 eyes) with aphakia, artificial lens dislocation, or lens dislocation were included at Tengzhou Central People’s Hospital from 2021 to 2022.According to the surgical method, the patients were divided into conventional fixation group (39 cases, 39 eyes) undergoing conventional intraocular lens suspension surgery and anchoring hook fixation group (35 cases, 35 eyes) undergoing minimally invasive anchoring hook type IOL interscleral suture fixation surgery.Surgical time, preoperative best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) before surgery and at 1 day and 1 month after surgery, corneal endothelial cell density before and at 1 month after surgery, mislocation of the artificial IOL and the incidence of complications were recorded.This study was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of Tengzhou Central People’s Hospital (No.2019-20), and all patients signed the informed consent form.

Results  One day and 1 month after surgery, the BCVA of the anchoring hook fixation group was better than that of the conventional fixation group, and the differences were statistically significant (both P<0.05). The preoperative corneal endothelial cell densities of the anchor hook fixation group and conventional fixation group were (2 431±556) and (2 406±625)cells/mm 2, and the postoperative 1-month corneal endothelial cell densities were (2 012±703) and (2 004±759)cells/mm 2, respectively, without statistically significant difference (both P>0.05). The average surgical time of the anchoring hook fixation group was (67.1±7.2) minutes, which was significantly shorter than (93.1±17.9) minutes of the conventional fixation group, and the difference was statistically significant ( t=13.654, P<0.001). During the 1-month follow up, no IOL mislocation occurred in the two groups, and two eyes in the routine fixation group developed anterior chamber hemorrhage, accounting for 5.1%, no anterior chamber bleeding occurred in the anchoring hook fixation group.Corneal edema was observed in 6 eyes and 1 eye of the conventional fixation group and anchor hook fixation group, accounting for 15.4% and 2.9%, respectively.Macular edema was observed in 2 eyes of the conventional fixation group, accounting for 5.1%, and no macular edema occurred in the anchoring hook fixation group.Throughout the entire follow-up, there was no case of low intraocular pressure, ciliary detachment, exposed sutures, or requiring secondary surgical intervention in either group.

Conclusions  Both minimally invasive anchoring hook IOL intrascleral suture fixation and conventional IOL suspension are safe and effective.Compared with conventional IOL suspension surgery, anchoring hook IOL intrascleral suture fixation surgery has more advantages in postoperative visual recovery, shorter surgical operation time and a lower incidence of postoperative complications.

KEYWORDS：

Lens dislocations;Intraocular lens;Fixation;Anchor hook;Suture