Table 1 Data for patients treated with Nd:YAG capsulotomy Case Age (yr) Sex Condition 1 56 Male ERM 2 77 Male ERM 3 78 Female ERM 4 67 Female ERM 5 64 Female ERM 6 65 Female ERM 7 53 Male ERM 8 62 Female MH 9 54 Male MH 10 58 Male ERM 11 78 Male MH 12 83 Male VTS 13 45 Male ERM 14 56 Male MH 15 67 Male VTS 16 65 Male ERM 17 54 Male MH 18 87 Male MH 19 76 Male ERM 20 65 Female ERM 21 66 Male ERM 22 51 Female ERM 23 59 Female ERM 24 72 Female VTS 25 77 Female MH 26 69 Male ERM 27 61 Female MH 28 59 Male ERM 29 55 Female ERM 30 67 Female MH 31 78 Male MH 32 59 Male MH 33 51 Female MH 34 79 Female VTS Follow-up (M) 6 8 17 18 13 12 7 7 4 5 19 15 8 5 7 10 14 12 15 10 5 5 4 19 21 23 19 10 5 18 12 8 9 6 Nd: YAG capsulotomy after PCO VA pre-YAG 20/63 20/80 20/50 20/50 20/40 20/80 20/63 20/100 20/40 20/50 20/100 20/60 20/40 20/40 20/100 20/50 20/32 20/100 20/63 20/50 20/80 20/80 20/80 20/100 20/40 20/63 20/100 20/80 20/100 20/40 20/100 20/63 20/40 20/100 VA post-YAG 20/40 20/40 20/25 20/40 20/25 20/40 20/40 20/63 20/40 20/25 20/63 20/40 20/25 20/40 20/40 20/40 20/25 20/63 20/40 20/32 20/32 20/40 20/32 20/40 20/32 20/40 20/80 20/40 20/63 20/32 20/40 20/40 20/25 20/40 Abbreviations: ERM, epiretinal membrane; MH, macular hole; VA, visual acuity;VTS, vitreomacular traction syndrome. Note: Follow-up is measured in months, age is measured in years. in sex (P = 0.465, chi-square test). None of the eyes had any complication after the Nd:YAG capsulotomy. Discussion Posterior capsule opaciﬁcation remains the most common long-term complication after cataract surgery. It can be treated by Nd:YAG laser capsulotomy, however, this may lead to other complications. It has been suggested that PCO may be signiﬁcantly more extensive after combined vitrectomy and phacoemulsification than after cataract surgery alone.11 Toda and colleagues,11 in a study evaluating the degree of PCO in patients undergoing combined cataract and vitreoretinal surgery, concluded that the PCO rate was signiﬁcantly higher after combined surgery especially in patients with diabetes mellitus. After combined surgery eyes could also develop severe postoperative inﬂammation, which probably leads to more extensive PCO.12,13 Lens epithelial cells (LECs) proliferate in response to many factors, one of which is inﬂammation. It has been suggested that surgical trauma stimulates residual LECs to produce cytokines such Therapeutics and Clinical Risk Management 2009:5 135