Outcomes of Cataract Surgery in Children with Down Syndrome

243 Dear Editor, Down syndrome is the most common chromosomal abnormality, occurring in up to 1/1000 live births.[1] These patients have a higher incidence of childhood cataract than general population.[2] While early studies have found unfavorable responses to cataract surgery,[3] recent literature has described successful outcomes.[4] Data regarding the long‐term outcomes in pediatric cataract surgery in Down syndrome is limited,[4,5] and our study, therefore, looks at the outcomes in these patients. Our study included 13 pat ients (19 eyes; 8 male/5 female subjects). Average age at diagnosis was 19.5 ± 49.7 months (range, 0.067 to 181 months); average age at surgery was 28.6 ± 54.7 months (range, 0.5 to 181 months). Average follow‐up duration was 60.5 ± 25.2 months (range, 19 to 108 months). Four patients were Caucasian and 9 Hispanic. Fifteen of 19 eyes were left aphakic (average age at surgery, 13.9 ± 11.2 months), with secondary intraocular lenses (IOLs) placed in four patients later. Four patients underwent cataract extraction with posterior‐chamber IOLs (three with primary posterior capsulotomy and one without) at an average age of 59.0 ± 81.1 months. No surgical complications occurred. Preoperative visual acuity was evaluated using fix‐and‐follow techniques in 12/13 (92.3%) patients. At the last follow‐up, 3/13 (23.1%) were able to undergo visual acuity assessment; the remaining 10/13 were assessed with fix‐and‐follow techniques. Complications included visually significant visual axis opacification in one eye (5.3%) at 57 months postoperatively, and glaucoma in two eyes (10.5%), Outcomes of Cataract Surgery in Children with Down Syndrome