Fear and Anxiety Associated with Cataract Surgery Under Local Anesthesia in Adults: A Systematic Review

Abstract

Cataract surgery is one of the most frequently performed surgical procedures worldwide. Patients usually experience strong negative emotions, such as fear and anxiety. A systematic review of the recent literature regarding the emotional states experienced during cataract surgery under local anaesthesia was performed based on the PubMed and Scopus databases. The objective of this review was to determine the causes and frequency of fear and anxiety, as well as methods for improving intraoperative experience and supporting the patient prior to surgery. Anxiety is mainly caused by fear of the surgery itself, fright of pain, and loss of vision. Abstaining and visual sensations experienced during cataract surgery also increased the preoperative anxiety. Women and hypochondriacs showed higher levels of anxiety. The greatest intensity of negative emotions occurred on the day of the cataract surgery. Patients operated on both eyes experienced greater fear and anxiety before the operation of the first eye surgery. In order to reduce patients’ negative experiences, pharmacological sedation, preoperative education and counselling, manual massage immediately before surgery, and listening to music during surgery are used. Taking this information into consideration allows the introduction of effective methods of eliminating the patient’s negative feelings in connection with cataract surgery, which leads to an improvement in the results of the operation and an increase in the patients’ sense of satisfaction and quality of life.

Real-time artificial intelligence evaluation of cataract surgery: A preliminary study on demonstration experiment

“…On the other hand, the biggest challenge in cataract surgery training is the fact that the surgery needs to be performed when the patient is awake and experiencing extreme anxiety. [ 39 ] It would be inappropriate in actual clinical practice for the supervising doctor to give a verbal warning to the resident that a particular technique is dangerous, or to take turns between the resident and the doctor rather frequently. The system we present in this study makes it possible to visually inform when the risk rate increases.…”

Effects of Low-Concentration Nitrous Oxide Anesthesia on Patient Anxiety During Cataract Surgery: A Retrospective Cohort Study

“…2 O group (69.2±8.4 bpm and −4.8±4.8 bpm) compared to that in the Air group (74.6±13.2 bpm and −0.6±5.8 bpm) (Figure3A and B). Intraoperative SpO 2 and the change in SpO 2 significantly increased (p<0.001 and p<0.001, respectively) in the N 2 O group (99.3±0.7% and 1.6±1.4%) compared to that in the Air group (97.5±1.4% and −0.03±0.7%) (Figure…”

“…Some patients experience anxiety or fear during cataract surgery under local anesthesia. 1,2 Surgeons are faced with the challenges of ensuring a successful surgery and reducing patient anxiety during surgery. To date, several techniques for reducing patient anxiety during surgery have been attempted, such as listening to music before and during surgery, 1,[3][4][5] preoperative patient education, 6,7 and hand massage or hand-holding before and during surgery.…”

Application of the Active-Fluidics System in Phacoemulsification: A Review

“…Yet, this can cause discomfort such as eye distention and eye pain, and it is detrimental to patients’ cooperation [ 10 , 15 ]. In addition, a high IOP may induce ocular perfusion reduction and optic nerve damage, even increasing patients’ anxiety and worsening the surgical outcome [ 45 , 52 ]. The maintenance of AC stability and the ability to combat surges provided by AFS can improve surgical safety and efficiency and also allows for a low target IOP to be set (40–50 mmHg).…”