Efficacy of nepafenac 0.1% in maintaining mydriasis during phacoemulsification surgery

Objective: to determine the efficacy of nepafenac 0.1% eye drops in maintaining mydriasis during phacoemulsification cataract surgery. methods: patients of 40-65 years of age undergoing phacoemulsificaton cataract surgery were randomly divided into two groups. one group received nepafenac 0.1% eye drops and the other group received placebo (tears naturale ii eye drops). pre-operatively; all patients received tropicamide 1% eye drops and phenylephrine 2.5% eye drops. the surgery in all the cases was done by the same ophthalmologist; with intra-operative epinephrine in the irrigating solution. the pupil size was measured with caliper at three steps; immediately before the surgical incision (baseline),at the end of phacoemulsification,and at the end of surgery. results: 60 eyes of 60 patients were included in the study. 30 eyes were in the nepafenac 0.1% group and another 30 in the placebo group. the mean age of our patients was 54.18 ± 7.49 years. the mean diameter of pupil at end of surgery was 7.65 ± 0.71 mm in nepafenac group v/s 6.67 ± 0.97 mm in the placebo group (p- value < 0.001). in the nepafenac group; the pupil size at the end of surgery decreased by a mean of 0.55 ± 0.51 mm (range 0.00-1.50 mm). meanwhile; in placebo group the pupil size decreased by a mean of 1.05 ± 0.87 mm (range 0.00-3.5 mm). this difference was statistically significant (p = 0.009). conclusion: the pre-operative use of nepafenac 0.1% eye drops was effective in maintaining mydriasis during phacoemulsification cataract surgery.