"The AcrySof ReSTOR toric lens offers the possibility of a multifocal intraocular lens (mIOL) in patients with cataract and corneal astigmatism," according to Dr Noel Bauer of the Department of Ophthalmology, Academic Hospital Maastricht, The Netherlands.

Dr Bauer revealed the preliminary findings of cataract surgery with the AcrySof ReSTOR toric lens (Alcon Laboratories, Fort Worth, Texas, USA) during one of Saturday's sessions at this year's ESCRS meeting in Vienna, Austria. This lens combines the features of the Acrysof Restor IOL with the Acrysof Toric IOL, which is ideal for cataract patients with astigmatism.

The study

Along with his co-author, Dr Rudy Nuijts, Dr Bauer studied the first 14 consecutive eyes of 8 patients with an average age of 59 years old. "These patients had a mean corneal cylinder of 1.7," said Dr Bauer.

Implantation of the AcrySof ReSTOR toric lens was performed during routine cataract surgery in patients with a corneal astigmatism of greater than 1 D. "The lens, is an aspheric diffractive/refractive multifocal toric IOL with a spherical range of +10 to +30, cylinder range of +1 to +3 and a near add of +3.0 D," he continued.

"Within our study group of 14 eyes there were four that were hyperopic and outside of the spherical range because of their short axial length," he added. "We planned for implantation of the ReSTOR toric IOL first and then LASIK afterwards."

The outcome parameters of the study included uncorrected distance visual acuity (UDVA), uncorrected near visual acuity (UNVA) and residual refractive cylinder.

Refractive results and visual outcomes

At 3-months follow-up the residual refractive cylinder was -0.45 D, Dr Bauer noted. "We found that more than 75% of our study group had a refractive cylinder smaller than 0.75 D and more than 80% of eyes had an uncorrected distance Snellen visual acuity of 0.8 or more," he added.

"In 10 eyes the post-operative uncorrected distance visual acuity was 0.9 and the uncorrected near visual acuity was 0.7, approximately equal to J2," Dr Bauer said.

Conclusion

This study demonstrated that through using this aspheric diffractive/refractive multifocal toric IOL in patients with cataract and corneal astigmatism there is a possibility to achieve good results in both distance and near visual acuity.