Our experience in ocular biometry in congenital and infantile cataract

Abstract

Purpose: To establish the importance of ocular biometry in congenital and infantile cataract upon the visual outcomes. Methods:The study was a retrospective study upon patients with congenital and infantile cataract. The study group included 58 eyes from 36 children. For cooperative children, for the ocular biometry we used the OCUSCAN biometer (Alcon, Forth Worth Tx). In very young children we used B-scan ultrasonography to measure the axial length (AXL) of the eye. The target refraction was hyperopia, concording with the age. Results:The measurement of axial length revealed an eye between 20 and above 25 mm. The correlation between axial length and age showed a rapid increase in the first 12 months, a smaller increase between 100-150 months and stabilization after 200 months (statistically significant-medium correlation). The correlation between keratometry and age showed higher values of keratometry at younger children, with a significant decrease in the first 12 months and a smaller rate of decrease after 24 months of age (statistically significant-high correlation). Conclusion:our study shows that the axial length increases during childhood, especially in the first 2 years and the corneal curvature decreases from birth to different ages, parameters which induce the target refraction.