Purpose: To present a statistically validated risk classification system for intraoperative complications in cataract surgery.
Setting: 2nd Department of Ophthalmology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Design: Prospective observational study.
Methods: All patients underwent phacoemulsification surgery by experienced, high-volume surgeons for cases with intraoperative complications. The presence of several risk factors was statistically assessed with the help of multiple correspondence analysis to determine the more reliable rank categorization for severity and to calculate a total risk score.
Results: This study included 1572 consecutive patients. The proposed system had 3 risk groups and a no-risk group and had high statistical reliability. A comparison of this system against a previously asserted empirical system showed higher internal reliability.
Conclusions: Previous efforts to construct a risk classification system for intraoperative complications in cataract surgery have been empirically defined and tested against practice-as-usual. The system in this study quantified risk more accurately and provided an experienced clinician with a reliable means of assessing the preoperational likelihood of intraoperative complications.