Preventing posterior capsule opacification: what have we learned?

摘要

Even today's high-quality cataract surgery with intraocular lens (IOL) implantation in the capsular bag does not prevent posterior capsule opacification (PCO) as the most frequent long-term complication. Lens epithelial cells (LECs) remaining in the capsular bag after any type of extracapsular cataract surgery are primarily responsible for PCO development. Proliferation, migration, epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, collagen deposition, and lens fiber regeneration of LECs are the main causes of opacification, as described by Awasthi et al. Cataract surgery appears to induce a wound-healing response in the lens and residual LECs proliferate and migrate across the posterior capsule and undergo lens fiber regeneration and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition.