Endothelial cell study in a case of Werner′s syndrome undergoing phacoemulsification and Yettrium-Aluminum-Garnet laser capsulotomy

Abstract

Werner's syndrome (WS) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder with multisystem manifestations of premature aging from the second decade of life. Cataract is one of the features of WS. Cataract surgery is complicated with postoperative wound dehiscence and bullous keratopathy when the surgery is done by intracapsular or conventional extracapsular method. We report the short-term result of phacoemulsification and Neodymimum Yettrium-Aluminum-Garnet laser (Nd YAG) capsulotomy in a case of WS with bilateral cataracts. Postoperatively and post capsulotomy, there was no change in the endothelial cell morphology. There was an 8.6% decrease in endothelial cell count at the end of 15 months postoperatively and 11 months post YAG capsulotomy. This decrease is within the acceptable range of cell loss after phacoemulsification and YAG capsulotomy. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first reported case of YAG laser capsulotomy in WS.

Management of cataract in Werner syndrome

“…To the best of our knowledge, only few cases were managed with phacoemulsification with uneventful follow-up. [ 8 9 10 ] We performed phacoemulsification with 2.8 mm small temporal incision along with all the precautionary measures to avoid endothelial damage and wound dehiscence [ Fig. 2c ].…”