Description:
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:sec><jats:title>Purpose</jats:title><jats:p>To assess outcome of phacoemulsification in cats.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods</jats:title><jats:p>Records of 71 cats (82 eyes) from five referral centers were reviewed. Groups were divided by cause of cataract (congenital/juvenile [n = 32], traumatic [n = 33], and secondary to uveitis [n = 6]), and group comparisons were performed for the most common complications: postoperative ocular hypertension (POH), uveitis, corneal ulceration, synechia/dyscoria, and posterior capsular opacity (PCO) in three different time periods: immediately postoperatively, at 1‐90 days, and at >90 days.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>Median follow‐up was 198 days (interquartile range 64‐518 days). The overall visual success rate of the cats with a 12‐month follow‐up was 92.6% (25/27 eyes). POH occurred in 35/82 (42.6%) eyes. Immediately postoperatively, uveitis was the most common complication in 28/82 eyes (34.1%) followed by corneal ulceration in 22/82 eyes (26.8%). At 1‐90 days, uveitis in 41/81 eyes (50.6%) remained the most common complication, followed by synechia/dyscoria in 21/81 eyes (25.9%), corneal ulceration in 16/81 eyes (19.7%), and PCO in 15/81 eyes (18.5%). At >90 days, PCO in 17/47 eyes (36.1%), followed by synechia/dyscoria in 16/47 eyes (34%), was the most common complications. The number of eyes with synechia/dyscoria in the trauma group was higher (13/33 [39.3%]) than in the congenital/juvenile group (5/31 [16.1%]) at 1‐90 days (<jats:italic>P</jats:italic> = .039). No statistical difference was found for the other group comparisons. Three eyes in total were enucleated owing to endophthalmitis, post‐traumatic ocular sarcoma, and secondary glaucoma.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion</jats:title><jats:p>Uveitis in the short‐term and PCO and synechia/dyscoria in the long‐term were the most common complications following phacoemulsification in cats.</jats:p></jats:sec>