Circulating antilens antibodies following extracapsular lens surgery

Eighty-eight patients scheduled for cataract surgery were evaluated for serum antilens antibody levels using the tanned red cell hemagglutination assay. The serum was collected before surgery, ten days after surgery, and at various times thereafter. Eighteen age-matched patients being examined for refractive errors and without a history of lens disease or injury constituted a normal control group. Patients were grouped according to the type of lens surgery they were having performed, as well as to previous lens surgery they may have experienced. Patients undergoing extracapsular lens surgery developed significantly higher levels of serum antilens antibody than did patients having intracapsular surgery. The highest antibody titers were found in those patients having a second extracapsular procedure in the fellow eye. The degree of severity of postoperative uveitis was not significantly different among patients groups, and a relationship could not be found between serum antilens antibody titers and severity of postoperative uveitis. The present lack of association between uveitis and levels of serum antilens antiboby is not supported by the experience of earlier investigations. This may be due to the virtually complete removal of lens material that is now accomplished during modern extracapsular surgery. The postoperative use of topical corticosteroid drugs may also be a factor.