Background: In 2019 the German Commission for the Prevention of Blindness (DKVB) held an eye camp in the Tanzanian town of Sumbawanga. For patients with mature cataracts and the ability to see light cateracts were treated by manual small incision cataract surgery (MSICS). For the first time in this camp the quality of the results of the cataract operations was measured.
Objective: The quality of the cataract operations is presented and the results were assessed in the context of the guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO).
Methods: Those patients who had a cataract operation in the first week were examined during the second week with respect to the parameters vision, refraction, split lamp microscopic findings, results and complications after surgery. The results were retrospectively evaluated and compared with the guidelines of the WHO.
Results: A total of 42 postoperative patients from the eye camp could be examined within 5-9 days after cataract sugery. The following parameters were found: median postoperative visual acuity 0.26, spherical equivalent -2.82 dpt, astigmatism -2.2 dpt, axis 113°. Visual acuity >0.3 in 14.2% (WHO 80%), vision 0.1-0.3 in 62% (WHO 15%), vision <0.1 in 23.8% (WHO 5%). Prolonged healing time and intraocular irritation in 29% of the cases.
Conclusion: Although the vision improved, the results are sobering when taken in the context of the WHO guidelines. The postoperative refraction showed a myopic shift and an high level of astigmatism. The reasons are manifold: ocular comorbidities, limited diagnostic and therapeutic possibilities in a nonclinical setting. Other factors are the kind of training of the staff in the camp, the difficult circumstances and advanced findings. Consideration of the results of this study is imperative to be able to measure the quality of the work and to create the potential to make future improvements.
Keywords: Cataract blindness; Cataract surgery; MSICS; Tanzania; Visual acuity.