Dr. Oliver Schein of The Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins says ending the practice of routine testing could decrease costs with no negative effect on patients' health. The study includes more than 19,000 patients, with a complication rate of 31.3 per 1,000 operations, who both did and did not have pre-op tests.
Cataract surgery is most often done on an outpatient basis using local anesthesia, and death rates are low. If there are medical side effects, they generally include a rise in blood pressure and a slowed heart rate. Serious medical events are rare.
Schein says many physicians believe pre-op tests are unnecessary but order them because of institutional requirements or legal concerns. He says the study recommends tests be ordered only when a patient's history or a finding on a physical exam indicates the need for it, even if surgery were not planned.
