Purpose: Since one of the most implicated factors in corneal endothelial cell loss after phacoemulsification is the ultrasound time, and that the "quick chop" technique utilizes less ultrasound time, the objective of this study was to compare and analyze the reduction of the central corneal endothelial cell density between the patients submitted to the "divide and conquer" and "quick chop" techniques.
Methods: Fifty-six patients with grade 3 senile cataract were prospectively selected and submitted to endocapsular phacoemulsification by the "divide and conquer" (28 patients, group 1) and "quick chop" (28 patients, group 2) techniques. The non-contact corneal central specular microscopy performed pre- and postoperatively at one month, 3 months and 6 months, and the ultrasound time used for each surgery, were verified.
Results: We observed that the "divide and conquer" technique spent an average of 2.0 minutes of ultrasound time and the "quick chop", 1.1 minute; that the reduction of the central corneal endothelial cell density was significant for both techniques in the first postoperative month (16.5% in group 1 and 19.4% in group 2) and that the variations in central corneal endothelial cell density that followed, at the 3rd and 6th month were not significant. There was no statistically significant difference between the variation of the central corneal endothelial cell density that occurred with both techniques (Student's "t" test p=0.334; in the 1st postoperative month).
Conclusions: We concluded that the reduction of central corneal endothelial cell density was not statistically different between the two techniques.