ObjectiveTo explore the anti-inflammatory effect and safety of two non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in the phacoemulsification combined with intraocular lens (IOL) implantation.

MethodsA randomized, double-blind, clinical trial was conducted.A total of 90 age-related cataract patients (90 eyes) who were diagnosed in Qingdao Eye Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University were enrolled from October 2020 to February 2021.The patients were randomized to diclofenac sodium group and bromofenac sodium group by random number table method, with 45 cases (45 eyes) in each group.All patients underwent phacoemulsification combined with IOL implantation, and 0.1% diclofenac sodium eye drops (preservative-free), 4 times a day, and 0.1% pramiphene eye drops, 2 times a day were applied in the perioperative period.The duration of continuous medication treatment and follow-up time were 6 weeks.The subjective symptoms of the patients were scored before and after surgery.The amount of tear fluid secretion was detected by Schirmer I test, and the tear film breakup time was recorded with the Oculus dry eye analyzer.Corneal fluorescein staining was observed under a slit lamp microscope with cobalt blue light.Anterior chamber flash was measured by slit-lamp biomicroscopy.The thickness of central macular area and the presence of macular cystoid edema was measured by optical coherence tomography.Visual acuity, noncontact intraocular pressure (IOP) and the drug safety were examined and evaluated.This study adhered to the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the Ethics Committee of Qingdao Eye Hospital (No.[2020]60).All patients were informed about the surgery and postoperative medication and signed the informed consent form.

ResultsAll subjects had no intraoperative complications, and completed treatment and follow-up as required.The preoperative, 1-day postoperative, 1-week postoperative, 6-week postoperative subjective symptom scores were (0.47±0.73), (0.56±0.62), (0.33±0.48), and (0.51±0.66) points in the diclofenac group, and (0.47±0.51), (0.75±0.61), (0.64±0.65), and (0.78±0.77) points in the bromfenac group.There were statistically significant differences in the subjective symptom scores at different time points between the two groups ( F _group=5.001, P=0.028; F _time=2.920, P=0.035), and the subjective symptom scores of diclofenac sodium group were significantly lower than those of bromofenac sodium group (all at P<0.05).The preoperative, 1-week postoperative, 6-week postoperative tear secretion volume were (5.87±2.37), (6.07±2.53), and (6.29±0.25) mm in diclofenac sodium group, and (7.36±2.74), (6.29±3.46), and (5.80±2.76) mm in bromofenac sodium group.There was statistically significant difference in the tear secretion volume between the two groups before surgery ( F=6.910, P=0.012), but there was no significant difference on postoperative weeks 1 and 6 ( F=1.121, 0.772; P=0.729, 0.384).The preoperative, 1-week postoperative, 6-week postoperative non-invasive tear break-up time (NIBUT) were (8.00±6.28), (6.68±5.24), and (6.17±5.00) seconds in diclofenac sodium group, and (6.40±5.28), (4.50±2.46), and (5.39±5.39) seconds in bromofenac sodium group.There was no significant difference in NIBUT between the two groups ( F _group=3.415, P=0.068).There was significant difference in NIBUT within groups among different time points ( F _time=4.358, P=0.020).The 1-day postoperative, 1-week postoperative, 6-week postoperative corneal epithelial staining score were (1.40±0.81), (0.13±0.34), (0.00±0.00) points in diclofenac sodium group, and (1.38±0.89), (0.22±0.47), and (0.00±0.00) points in bromofenac sodium group.There was no statistically significant difference in the corneal epithelial staining score between the two groups after surgery ( F _group=0.110, P=0.741).There were statistically significant differences in corneal epithelial staining scores within groups among different time points ( F _time=175.054, P<0.01).The 1-day postoperative, 1-week postoperative, 6-week postoperative anterior chamber flare classification were 1.13±0.51, 0.13±0.34, and 0.00±0.00 in diclofenac sodium group, and 1.02±0.34, 0.16±0.37, and 0.00±0.00 in bromofenac sodium group.There was no significant difference in the overall anterior chamber flash between the two groups ( F _group=0.045, P=0.507).There were statistically significant differences in anterior chamber flash within groups among different time points ( F _time=322.331, P<0.001).There was no significant difference in the preoperative and 6-week postoperative macular fovea thickness between both groups ( t=-0.221, -0.374; both at P>0.05).The incidence of macular cystoid edema 6 weeks after operation was 0% in both groups.Subjects tolerated the two tested drugs well.Eight adverse events occurred in this study, all of which were mild postoperative IOP elevation, including 3 in diclofenac sodium group with an incidence of 6.67% and 5 in bromofenac group with an incidence of 11.1%.IOP returned to normal in all the patients 1 week after stopping the use of drug.

ConclusionsTwo nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs are safe and effective for anti-inflammatory treatment after cataract phacoemulsification combined with IOL implantation.The new diclofenac sodium eye drops are more comfortable than bromfenac sodium eye drops.