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ABSTRACT.Purpose: To evaluate the incidence of posterior capsule opacification after implantation of two different intraocular lenses (IOLs), AcrySof â and Stabibag â , by comparing the neodymium:YAG (Nd:YAG) laser capsulotomy rates. Methods: The medical records of 596 patients (705 eyes) who underwent phacoemulsification and posterior chamber IOL implantation using either AcrySof (n = 335) or Stabibag (n = 370) IOLs during a 1-year (1999) period were reviewed. Eyes with secondary cataract, combined procedures or operative complications, such as capsule tears, were excluded from the study. The subjects' age, sex, surgeon (two surgeons), and time for Nd:YAG laser capsulotomy were recorded. Results: The mean follow-up was 23 months in both IOL groups. There were no statistically significant differences within the two IOL groups regarding sex distribution or surgeon. The mean age in the AcrySof group was 77.0 years compared to 79.2 years in the Stabibag group (p = 0.001). Nd:YAG laser capsulotomy was performed in 7.6% of patients in the Stabibag group compared to 2.7% in the AcrySof group (i.e. at a significantly higher rate) (p = 0.004). Survival analyses demonstrated that age and type of IOL were the only independent predictors of the incidence of capsulotomy. Conclusions: This study shows that the frequency of eyes with posterior capsule opacification needing capsulotomy was significantly higher in eyes with Stabibag IOLs compared to eyes with AcrySof IOLs.

Editor, W e want to thank Drs Aslam, Patton and Dhillon for their interest in our study and consider that they raise a good point. We agree that objective measurements are the best way to quantify posterior capsule opacification (PCO) rates, as we also pointed out in the article.However, we still believe that our findings are of interest. We agree that the decision to treat PCO may depend on many different factors, but we do not feel that intraocular lens (IOL) type has a major influence on the decision to perform Nd:YAG laser capsulotomy. Moreover, we found a highly statistically significant difference in capsulotomy rates between the two IOL groups (p < 0.001), and the findings were based on multivariate regression analyses to account for differences in the two IOL groups.In our article we refer to several recent studies that still use the rate of Nd:YAG laser capsulotomy as a measurement of PCO. However, we agree that objective measurements ideally should be preferred in the future.