Anesthesia management during cataract surgery

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Record ID 32002000322
English
Authors' objectives:

Surgery for age-related cataract is the highest volume surgical procedure in the Medicare population. In the United States, approximately 1.5 million cataract operations were performed on Medicare beneficiaries in 1996. Cataract surgery is almost exclusively performed as an outpatient procedure and usually involves the administration of a local anesthetic in addition to systemic sedation administered by an anesthesiologist or nurse anesthetist. There is considerable national and international variation in anesthesia management strategies for cataract surgery. The principal objectives of this Evidence Report are to summarize the published literature on (1) the risks and benefits associated with the use of one form of regional anesthesia over another and (2) the risks and benefits associated with different approaches to sedating the patient for cataract surgery.

Authors' recommendations: A variety of commonly employed anesthesia management strategies for cataract surgery appear to be safe and highly effective. Topical anesthesia does not provide as complete pain control as do the various injection techniques, although this technique is clearly quite effective and avoids rare complications potentially associated with injection techniques. There is only weak evidence that intravenous or intramuscular sedation or analgesia improve anxiety control, pain relief, and patient satisfaction with cataract surgery.
Authors' methods: Systematic review
Details
Project Status: Completed
URL for project: http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/epcsums/anestsum.htm
Year Published: 2000
English language abstract: An English language summary is available
Publication Type: Not Assigned
Country: United States
MeSH Terms
  • Anesthesia
  • Cataract
  • Cataract Extraction
Contact
Organisation Name: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
Contact Address: Center for Outcomes and Evidence Technology Assessment Program, 540 Gaither Road, Rockville, MD 20850, USA. Tel: +1 301 427 1610; Fax: +1 301 427 1639;
Contact Name: martin.erlichman@ahrq.hhs.gov
Contact Email: martin.erlichman@ahrq.hhs.gov
Copyright: Agency for Health Care Research and Quality (AHRQ)
This is a bibliographic record of a published health technology assessment from a member of INAHTA or other HTA producer. No evaluation of the quality of this assessment has been made for the HTA database.