Prospective masked controlled trial.
setting: Institutional practice. study population: The study included 51 eyes of 51 diabetes mellitus (DM) patients with moderate NPDR and grade 2-3 nuclear cataracts. Group 1 included randomly selected patients who received enoxaparin in balanced salt solution (BSS) during cataract surgery, while standard BSS was used in Group 2. observation procedure: Patients were followed up 1聽day, 1聽week, and 1 and 2聽months after the surgery. main outcome measures: Anterior chamber cell and flare.
Postoperatively, 20 patients from Group 1 and 4 patients in Group 2 had less than a mean of 10 cells at day 1 (P聽= .012). At the first week, 20 patients from Group 1 and 10 patients from Group 2 had less than a mean of 10 cells (P聽= .004). When compared for flare, 20 patients from Group 1 and 8 patients from Group 2 had a flare between 0 and聽+1 at postoperative day 1 (P聽< .001). By the end of postoperative first week, 24 patients from Group 1and 18 patients from Group 2 had a flare between 0 and聽+1 (P聽= .012). There was no difference between groups in terms of postoperative inflammation at the first and second months after the surgery.
The results of the study suggest that enoxaparin added into the infusion fluid may reduce postoperative inflammation in patients with DM, and this result supports the anti-inflammatory effect of enoxaparin.