Cataract Surgery in Germany: Data from a German Registry on Quality Outcomes for Cataract and Refractive Surgery in the Year 2018

Background: The German registry for cataract surgery was established in 2014. The main aim of this registry was to improve cataract surgery outcomes. Aim: The aim of this project is to offer a tool for benchmarking through the establishment of a reference database in Germany where surgeons could record and analyze their own outcomes. Methods: Data were collected between January 2018 and December 2018. The analyzed data included parameters of surgical technique, implanted intraocular lens (IOL), refractive and visual outcomes. Results: During the year of 2018, the German registry included 10,035 lens exchange surgeries and the complete follow-up was available for 9882 lens extractions. Approximately one third of the patients were between 76 and 80 years old and 60.6% of the cases had a best-corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA) before surgery of 0.5 or better. Parabulbar anesthesia was reported in 60.4% of the cases and phacoemulsification with implantation of a posterior chamber IOL was the chosen method in 92.2% of the cases. The power of the implanted IOL was between 21.0 - 22.9D in 29.4% of eyes. Surgical complications were reported in only 413 cases. After surgery, a CDVA of 0.5 or better was achieved in 90.8% of the cases. Most of the operated patients (64%) had a residual refractive error within ±0.5D (95% confidence interval 63.2 - 65.1). Conclusions: Our results show that the registry was implementedsuccessfully with results comparable to the ones reported in EUREQUO.