Long-term risk of suture breakage after scleral fixation of late in-the-bag intraocular lens dislocation with a polypropylene 10-0 suture

Purpose: To investigate the long-term risk of suture breakage after scleral fixation with a polypropylene 10-0 suture in eyes with late in-the-bag intraocular lens (IOL) dislocation.

Setting: Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.

Design: Retrospective case series.

Methods: Patients operated with scleral suturing of late in-the-bag IOL dislocation from 2007 to 2016. 192 eyes (176 patients) operated with scleral suture (polypropylene 10-0 suture) fixation of a dislocated IOL-capsule complex were identified; 91 patients (47%) were men.

Results: The mean follow-up after the operation was 6.2 (95% CI, 5.7-6.7) years, and 98 patients (56%) deceased during the study. 11 eyes (6%) (11 patients) had suture breakage that required reoperation with a mean time of 5.5 (3.4-7.6) years after IOL repositioning surgery. These patients had a mean age of 73.5 (67.9-79.2) years at the time of the operation for late in-the-bag IOL dislocation vs 81.3 (79.8-82.9) years for patients who did not experience this complication ( P = .004). No cases of late endophthalmitis were registered.

Conclusions: The long-term risk of suture breakage was quite low after scleral fixation of late in-the-bag IOL dislocation, particularly in the oldest patients. Hence, the polypropylene 10-0 suture seems to be a safe option for scleral fixation in this patient group.