International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health | September 2023 | Vol 10 | Issue 9 Page 3332 International Journal of Community Medicine and Public Health Dhawan BD et al. Int J Community Med Public Health. 2023 Sep;10(9):3332-3335 http://www.ijcmph.com pISSN 2394-6032 | eISSN 2394-6040 Original Research Article Posterior capsule opacification assessment of need and outcome of Nd-YAG laser capsulotomy: a follow up of rapid assessment of avoidable blindness in a district in central India Bodhraj D. Dhawan 1 , Vaishali B. Dhawan 2 * INTRODUCTION The current accepted surgical trend for cataract surgery is phaco-emulsification or extracapsular cataract extraction. Whereas phacoemulsification is performed in most of urban set ups, in rural settings especially where camp surgeries are performed ECCE and small incision cataract surgeries are still performed in majority of hospitals in India. 1 Posterior capsular opacification (PCO) is the prime deleterious consequence of cataract surgery. ND-YAG laser capsulotomy is the accepted treatment for PCO. Most of the published literature on PCO is in cases where phacoemulsification with implant of foldable intraocular lenses was performed. 2-5 There is limited information on the prevalence of PCO and outcome of its treatment in cases after extracapsular cataract extraction surgery with implantataion of polymethyl methacrylate lenses which is done in majority of camp surgeries in rural Indian set up. To achieve our aim to study, we reached out to the rural population through a cluster sample survey to screen the cases (detailed outcome of which has already been published by us elsewhere) and study the prevalence and grades PCO in these cases. Those cases where PCO was visually significant were brought to the hospital and worked up for Nd-YAG laser capsulotomy and were ABSTRACT Background: Current study highlights the burden of PCO related blindness, need of Nd YAG laser in rural set up and positive and negative outcomes of Nd-YAG laser capulotomy in treating PCO. Methods: This study was conducted in 2020 at the department of ophthalmology at a medical college in central india. A total 53 such eyes were studied. Results: A 408 individuals were included with pseudophakia in one or both eyes. Mean age of pseudophakic study population was 67.9±7.6 years (range 50-92 years). Nearly 50% of the eyes had a visual acuity of less than 6/18. 40% of the pseudophakic eyes had visually significant PCO. There were 53 eyes where the visual impairment was solely due to PCO and Nd-YAG Laser capsulotomy was done for these eyes. Post Laser Treatment 79.2% of treated eyes achieved a visual acuity of ≥6/18. Most commonly encountered complications after YAG Laser Capsulotomy was IOP spike which was seen in 29.5% of eyes undergoing the procedure which was followed by IOL pitting seen in 29.7%. Conclusions: The reach of Nd-YAG laser capsulotomy is limited to these masses. A step to prevent blindness in this category of population would be to ensure vailibility of Nd-YAG laser capsulotomy. This procedure is relatively safe with few complications. Key Words: Posterior capsular opacification, Nd-YAG laser, Intraocular lens 1 Department of Ophthalmology, Chhindwara Institute of Medical Sciences, Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh, India 2 Department of Radiology, Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences, Sawangi Meghe, Wardha, Maharashtra, India Received: 21 June 2023 Revised: 21 August 2023 Accepted: 22 August 2023 *Correspondence: Dr. Bodhraj D. Dhawan, E-mail: bodhrajdhawan@gmail.com Copyright: © the author(s), publisher and licensee Medip Academy. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20232699