Jainisha Jayakrishnan
Cataracts remain a major cause of preventable blindness and hidden posterior segment lesions may reduce the visual recovery after surgery. Therefore, it is of interest to evaluate the posterior segment abnormalities in patients with opaque media undergoing cataract surgery at a tertiary care hospital in Chengalpattu district. Hence, a prospective observational study was conducted on ninety-three eyes including mature, hypermature and traumatic cataracts using B-scan ultrasonography with a 10 MHz probe. Ultrasonography findings were associated with Relative afferent papillary defect (RAPD), intraocular pressure and visual acuity with posterior segment abnormalities detected in 40.9% of eyes, most commonly posterior vitreous separation (10.8%), retinal detachment (8.6%) and vitreous haemorrhage (6.4%), while reduced visual acuity (PL+) showed significant association with posterior segment pathology. Thus, data shows the B-scan ultrasonography was found to be a reliable pre-operative tool for early detection of posterior segment pathology, aiding surgical planning and improving visual outcomes.