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Query: UMLS:C0086543 (cataract)
 29,165 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

In many eye departments it is routine to ask patients to lie completely flat for cataract surgery. However, many patients prefer not to lie completely flat, if given the choice. It is our practice to ensure patients are in a comfortable position before commencing surgery. We conducted a prospective observational study of our routine practice comprising 125 consecutive cataract operations conducted by a single surgeon with local anaesthesia (occasional phaco under general anaesthetic was not included). All patients were initially positioned lying flat on the reclining chair and were given the option of staying in that position throughout the operation or having the chair-back raised until they were comfortable. Only 27% (34 patients of 125 total) were happy to lie flat (angle between 0 degrees and 5 degrees ). The majority of our patients (62%--78 patients) preferred to sit up slightly, with the chair-back 10 degrees to 25 degrees above the horizontal; 8% (10 patients) of the patients were sited at an angle of 30 degrees to 35 degrees and 2% (three patients) needed to be sited at 35 degrees or more. Patients who sat up above 30 degrees generally had a medical reason such as orthopnoea (3%--four patients), back pain (5%--six patients), anxiety (2%--two patients), Meniere's disease (1%--one patient). Patients who sat up below 25 degrees chose this position for comfort or preference. Our results show that patient preferences for positioning during cataract phaco-emulsification under topical-intracameral anaesthesia should increase overall patient satisfaction without the need to compromise safety.
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PMID:Patients' preferences for positioning during phaco-emulsification under topical-intracameral anaesthesia. 1978 58

The pressure to contain health expenditures is unprecedented. In England a flattening of the health budget but increasing demand led the National Health Service (NHS) to seek reductions in health expenditures of 17 percent over four years. The spending cuts were to be achieved through improvements in service quality and efficiency, including reducing the use of ineffective, overused, or inappropriate procedures. However, the NHS left it to the local commissioning (or funding) organizations, known as primary care trusts, to determine what steps to take to reduce spending. To assess whether the initiative had an impact, we examined six low-value procedures: spinal surgery for lower back pain, myringotomy to relieve eardrum pressure, inguinal hernia repair, cataract removal, primary hip replacement, and hysterectomy for heavy menstrual bleeding. We found significant reductions in three of the six procedures-cataract removal, hysterectomy, and myringotomy-in the program's first year, compared to prior years' trends. However, changes in the rates of all examined procedures varied widely across commissioning organizations. Our findings highlight some of the challenges of making major budget cuts in health care. Reducing ineffective spending remains a significant opportunity for the US health care system, and the English experience may hold valuable lessons.
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PMID:English National Health Service's savings plan may have helped reduce the use of three 'low-value' procedures. 2573 87

Patients with chronic idiopathic hypoparathyroidism may develop neurological complications, including calcification of the basal ganglia and other areas of the brain. In Fahr's syndrome, intracranial calcification is associated with an underlying disorder such as hypo or hyperparathyroidism. We report the case of a 37-year-old gentleman, with a history of bilateral cataract surgery and seizures, who presented with a new episode of seizure and was found to have severe hypocalcemia and bilateral symmetric intracranial calcification due to previously diagnosed primary hypoparathyroidism. He had symptoms and signs mimicking ankylosing spondylitis (AS), but with negative radiological and serological findings, not fitting into the diagnosis of axial spondyloarthropathies (SpA), as per standard criteria. Patients with long-standing idiopathic hypoparathyroidism can have severe calcification of soft tissues and bones, including vertebrae and paravertebral soft tissues, causing inflammatory back pain and stiffness. It is vital to report such cases as their occurrence is rare, and physicians should be aware of the possibility while evaluating patients with inflammatory back pain. Treatment in these cases is directed towards hypocalcemia and underlying primary pathology rather than spondyloarthropathy.
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PMID:Primary Hypoparathyroidism Mimicking Ankylosing Spondylitis in a Young Man with Fahr's Syndrome: A Case Report. 3294 87