Toric IOL calculation in eyes with high posterior corneal astigmatism

PURPOSE: To evaluate different calculation approaches for toric intraocular lens (IOL) calculation in cases with high posterior corneal astigmatism (PCA). METHODS: Consecutive patients who underwent cataract extraction with implantation of toric IOLs by a single surgeon were reviewed. Eyes with measured PCA of 0.80 diopters (D) or greater were included. Errors in the predicted postoperative refractive astigmatism were calculated for the Abulafia-Koch formula, vector summation of anterior keratometry with posterior tomography, and the Barrett toric calculator using predicted and measured PCA. RESULTS: One hundred seventy-three consecutive cases of toric IOL implantation were reviewed. Seventeen eyes (10%) had PCA of 0.80 D or greater and were investigated. The mean absolute error was the lowest with Barrett’s measured PCA (0.55 ± 0.38) followed by Barrett’s predicted PCA mean absolute error (0.65 ± 0.31), vector summation (0.69 ± 0.33), and the Abulafia-Koch formula (0.80 ± 0.36). The rate of eyes with prediction errors within 0.25 D or less was the highest for Barrett’s measured PCA (29.4%) followed by Barrett’s predicted PCA (5.9%) and no eyes for the Abulafia-Koch formula and vector summation. The mean centroid prediction errors were lowest for Barrett’s measured PCA and Barrett’s predicted PCA (0.14 ± 0.66 @70, 0.14 ± 0.73 @179, respectively), followed by vector summation (0.35 ± 0.70 @5), and the Abulafia-Koch formula (0.39 ± 0.80 @179). CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that in cases of high PCA, the Barrett toric calculator using direct measurements of PCA may have a potential advantage over predicted PCA in toric IOL calculations and vector summation of the anterior and posterior corneal astigmatism.