Article Sidebar
Published:
Oct 24, 2005Keywords:
cataract glaucoma surgery laboratory tests eye centres
Article Details
Issue
Section
Articles
The entire contents of the Nigerian Journal of Ophthalmology are protected under Indian and international copyrights. The Journal, however, grants to all users a free, irrevocable, worldwide, perpetual right of access to, and a license to copy, use, distribute, perform and display the work publicly and to make and distribute derivative works in any digital medium for any reasonable non-commercial purpose, subject to proper attribution of authorship and ownership of the rights. The journal also grants the right to make small numbers of printed copies for their personal non-commercial use under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
Main Article Content
Relevance of routine preoperation laborotary tests before cataract surgery in a Nigerian teaching hospital
Abstract
Objective: To investigate the outcome and the relevance of routine laboratory tests, i.e., full blood count (FBC), packed cell volume (PCV), haemoglobin (Hb), and fasting blood sugar (FBS) before cataract and glaucoma surgery.
Materials and Methods: A retrospective review of records of all patients who had cataract/glaucoma surgery at University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH) over a one and a half year period October 2002 - March 2004) was carried out. Data assessed include age, sex, type of surgery done, laboratory tests done and the results.
Results: The records of 250 patients who were operated on at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH)during the period under study were reviewed. The age range was between 1 and 90 years, with a mean age of 56.54 years SD ± 19. The male to female ratio was 1.2:1. The majority of the patients (94.0%) had normal (2-6mmol/L) fasting blood sugar, while 6.0% had high FBS (> 6mmol/L). The mean FBS was 3.49 SD ± 1.87. Out of the 186 patients whose PCV records were available for review, 178 (71.2%) had normal PCV <30% and 4.3%ad low PCV of < 30%. The mean PCV was 28.12 SD ± 17.1.
Conclusion: Routine laboratory tests before cataract and glaucoma surgery are not advised since a significant number of the patients had normal FBC and FBS. Therefore, indiscriminate preoperative routine testing should be avoided while more attention should be paid to history and clinical examination, the specific procedure being performed and the type of anaesthesia to be used.
Keywords: cataract, glaucoma, surgery, laboratory tests, eye centres
Nigerian Journal of Ophthalmology Vol. 13 (1) 2005: 4-7
Materials and Methods: A retrospective review of records of all patients who had cataract/glaucoma surgery at University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH) over a one and a half year period October 2002 - March 2004) was carried out. Data assessed include age, sex, type of surgery done, laboratory tests done and the results.
Results: The records of 250 patients who were operated on at the University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH)during the period under study were reviewed. The age range was between 1 and 90 years, with a mean age of 56.54 years SD ± 19. The male to female ratio was 1.2:1. The majority of the patients (94.0%) had normal (2-6mmol/L) fasting blood sugar, while 6.0% had high FBS (> 6mmol/L). The mean FBS was 3.49 SD ± 1.87. Out of the 186 patients whose PCV records were available for review, 178 (71.2%) had normal PCV <30% and 4.3%ad low PCV of < 30%. The mean PCV was 28.12 SD ± 17.1.
Conclusion: Routine laboratory tests before cataract and glaucoma surgery are not advised since a significant number of the patients had normal FBC and FBS. Therefore, indiscriminate preoperative routine testing should be avoided while more attention should be paid to history and clinical examination, the specific procedure being performed and the type of anaesthesia to be used.
Keywords: cataract, glaucoma, surgery, laboratory tests, eye centres
Nigerian Journal of Ophthalmology Vol. 13 (1) 2005: 4-7
