Effect of Lens Vault on the Accuracy of Intraocular Lens Calculation Formulas in Shallow Anterior Chamber Eyes

To explore the impact of preoperative lens vault (LV) on the accuracy of the Barrett Universal Ⅱ, Haigis, Hoffer Q, Hoffer QST, Holladay 1, Kane, and SRK/T formulas in eyes with a shallow anterior chamber.Retrospective case series.Included were 409 eyes with anterior chamber depth (ACD) shallower than 3.0 mm that underwent phacoemulsification. Eyes were divided into a short axial length (AL) group (<22.00 mm) and a normal AL group (22.00 ≤ AL < 24.50 mm). Each group was further divided into a small LV subgroup (LV <0.95 mm) and a large LV subgroup (LV ≥0.95 mm) according to the median of the preoperative LV. Postoperative refraction was measured 3 months after surgery. Mean absolute error (MAE) was calculated and compared for each formula. The correlation between LV and the mean numeric error predicted by each formula was analyzed.Overall, the Barrett and Kane formulas generated the smallest MAE in both short AL and normal AL groups (P < .05 for both). In short AL eyes with small LV, the Haigis formula performed better than other traditional formulas (P < .05 for all). In normal AL eyes with a small LV, the Barrett and Kane formulas showed higher accuracy (P < .05 for all), and other formulas were comparable. In either subgroup with a large LV, the Haigis formula created a significant higher MAE (P < .001 for all), followed by Hoffer QST. Positive correlations were found between LV and mean numeric errors predicted by all formulas, except for Barrett and Kane formulas (P < .001 for all), indicating a postoperative hyperopic shift with an increased LV.In shallow anterior chamber eyes with a large LV, the Haigis and Hoffer QST formulas taking preoperative ACD into calculation surprisingly showed a larger prediction error. However, the Barrett and the Kane formulas, which include both ACD and lens thickness as predictive parameters, showed good accuracy in both small and large LV subgroups. Therefore, although formulas referring to preoperative ACD are generally believed to achieve better refractive results in patients with a shallow anterior chamber, LV may be valuable to consider when choosing an IOL power calculation formula.