Cochrane Corner: immediate sequential bilateral surgery versus delayed sequential bilateral surgery for cataracts.

The recently published Cochrane Review by Dickman et al. evaluated safety, clinical outcomes, cost-effectiveness and patient-reported outcomes of immediate sequential bilateral cataract surgery (ISBCS) compared to delayed sequential bilateral cataract surgery (DSBCS). A total of 14 studies were included involving 276,260 patients (7384 for ISBCS and 268,876 for DSBCS); comprising two randomised controlled trials (RCTs), seven non-randomised studies (NRSs) and six economic evaluations (one study being both a NRS and an economic evaluation). The review authors concluded that there were likely no clinically important differences in outcomes between ISBCS and DSBCS, although the limited quantity and quality of evidence provided only low- to very low-certainty regarding this lack of difference for most outcomes of interest.