The Study of Medical Testing for Cataract Surgery was conducted as part of the Cataract Patient Outcomes Research Team, led by Oliver D. Schein, M.D., M.P.H., of the Wilmer Eye Institute, Johns Hopkins University. Introduction Cataract surgery is the most common operation among the elderly in the United States. In 1996, Medicare beneficiaries had about 1.5 million cataract operations. Cataract surgery is almost always performed as an outpatient procedure.
Patients undergo local anesthesia and usually intravenous sedation as well.
Rates of associated morbidity and mortality are very low. However, cataract patients, because of their age, have a high prevalence of coexisting illness and associated abnormalities in laboratory tests. Therefore, preoperative testing has been used in hopes of detecting previously unknown conditions that may influence surgical outcomes. Individual physicians may think that the patient's medical history and physical examination provide enough information, but they still may order the tests because of guidelines, institutional requirements, or the belief that another provider wants the results. This study examined whether such tests really provide a benefit to the patient.