Three-year stability of an angle-supported foldable hydrophobic acrylic phakic intraocular lens evaluated by Scheimpflug photography

PURPOSE: To examine the postoperative positional stability of a new angle-supported, hydrophobic acrylic phakic intraocular lens (pIOL). SETTING: Department of Ophthalmology, Goethe-University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. METHODS: In this prospective nonrandomized clinical trial, eyes with moderate to high myopia had implantation of an angle-supported pIOL (AcrySof Cachet). Scheimpflug imaging was performed preoperatively and postoperatively at 1, 3, 6 to 12, and 24 to 36 months. The main outcome measures were the distance between the corneal endothelium and the IOL and between the IOL and the crystalline lens. The overall significance threshold was P = .05. RESULTS: Twenty-one of the 26 eyes (26 patients) evaluated were included in the statistical analysis. Analysis of variance showed no statistically significant differences in absolute endothelium IOL or IOL crystalline lens measurements at any postoperative visit. The mean endothelium IOL distance was 2.05 mm +/- 0.25 (SD) at 1 month and 2.15 +/- 0.29 mm at 24 to 36 months and the mean IOL crystalline distance, 0.92 +/- 0.23 mm and 0.86 +/- 0.22 mm, respectively. A 1-way t test showed a small but significant difference compared with zero in the overall change in the endothelium IOL distance (mean 0.08 +/- 0.16 mm) and thus in the overall calculated anterior chamber depth (mean 0.07 +/- 0.08 mm); the difference was not significant for the IOL crystalline lens change (mean -0.05 +/- 0.13 mm). CONCLUSION: The angle-supported foldable hydrophobic pIOL maintained adequate central clearance distances to the corneal endothelium and the natural crystalline lens over 3 years.