Resumo

RICARDO SUAREZ, Fidel Saúl. Social, technological and ethical implications of unsatisfactory outcomes in cataract surgery. Rev Hum Med [online]. 2010, vol.10, n.2. ISSN 1727-8120.

Worldwide, cataract is the leading cause of avoidable blindness. Its high prevalence as a cause of blindness is associated to poverty. Surgery is the only effective treatment and most performed surgical procedure in developed countries, with an adequate cost-benefit relationship. Contradictorily, recently conducted population-based surveys have revealed unsatisfactory outcomes in 40 % of cataract surgeries practiced in developing countries. Besides dealing with some of the historical and technological issues related to cataract surgery, the author analyzes the main causes and ethical dilemma associated to those outcomes, and recommends evaluating the impacts of cataract surgery as a technology with positive or negative effects after its application.

Palavras-chave : Cataract surgery; outcome assessment; science, technology and society.

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