Long‐term outcome of phacoemulsification in raptors—A retrospective study (1999‐2014)

Abstract

Objective To determine long‐term outcome of phacoemulsification in raptors at the University of Tennessee Veterinary Medical Center. Animals Studied Seven nonreleasable diurnal raptors including, four bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), two red‐tailed hawks (Buteo jamaicensis), and one peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) that had undergone phacoemulsification. All birds showed behavioral changes attributable to visual deficits prior to surgery. Procedures All birds underwent phacoemulsification for cataracts. Four underwent bilateral phacoemulsification, and three had unilateral surgery. Due to a low sample size, statistics were not done. Results Six raptors (nine eyes) had long‐term follow‐up (median 75 months, range 28 to 105 months). Seven of these eyes (78%) were visual at last examination. Of those visual eyes, two developed mild to moderate posterior synechiae, four had mild to moderate capsular opacities, and one developed a lipid keratopathy. The remaining two eyes with long‐term follow‐up were from the same red‐tailed hawk. Both eyes developed fibropupillary membranes that were blinding. One eye was pseudophakic, and the other was aphakic and also developed a rhegmatogenous retinal detachment. Another bald eagle was euthanized two months after surgery due to refractory glaucoma; one eye was pseudophakic. Conclusions Phacoemulsification is a viable treatment for captive raptors with cataracts. The most severe complications occurred relatively soon after surgery. Captive raptors appear to adapt well to aphakia.

Antemortem diagnosis of congenital glaucoma in a white‐bellied caique (Pionites leucogaster)

“…Secondary glaucoma in birds is more commonly described as a consequence of uveitis, hyphema, traumatic ocular injury, cataract, or post‐operative complications of cataract surgery 10‐12 . In this reported case, no history of trauma or histopathological evidence of inflammation was observed.…”

Successful bilateral phacoemulsification and vitrectomy in a Bennett’s wallaby (Macropus rufogriseus)

“…Phacoemulsification has been described in a large variety of species. Specific anatomical variations could be challenging in some species, such as scleral ossicles in birds 19 or spectacles in snakes, 20 but no difficulties were encountered in the wallaby of the present report. There was no major difference between our surgical technique and the one used in other mammals with a 1-handed technique.…”

“…The vitreous humor opacity could be caused by a high vitreous humor concentration of galactose, as shown by analysis of the vitreous humor in a kangaroo. 5 Posterior capsular opacity is the most common long-term complication of phacoemulsification in dogs, 21 cats, 22 and birds, 19,23,24 occurring in 36% to 100% of patients, depending on the study. It is caused by proliferation and migration of residual lens epithelial cells.…”

Phacoemulsification in a chinchilla (Chinchilla lanigera)

“…The visual image would be minimized and blurry. However, in the reported the aphakic animals, the visions were functionally acceptable after surgery ( Fife et al , 2006 ; Montiani-Ferreira et al , 2010 ; Sigmund et al , 2019 ). However, this chinchilla’s vision was improved and restored with normal behavior, even though the surgery was taken only one eye without IOL implantation, due to he can jump on and jump off in the new environments in his house, and the owner was happy and said that the chinchilla had a good quality of life more than before surgery.…”

“…Phacoemulsification without IOL implantation was reported in many animals may be because of intra-operative complications such as posterior capsular tears, too large anterior capsulorhexis, lack of an appropriate commercial IOL, cost of creating custom-IOL implants, or owner declined ( Fife et al , 2006 ; Montiani-Ferreira et al , 2010 ; Klein et al , 2011 : Rainwater et al , 2015 ; Sigmund et al , 2019 ; Fenollosa-Romero et al , 2020 ). The postoperative aphakic eye may result in far-sighted or hyperopia ( Davidson et al , 1993 ; Bigelbach, 1994 ).…”