SUMMARY

The Teller Acuity Cards test (TAC) was used to determine grating visual acuity (GVA) in a group of 96 children with uni or bilateral cataracts (152 eyes). Ninety-seven eyes had surgical removal of the lens. The results, obtained in children up to 36 mos. of age were compared with the norms to: a) assess the diagnostic capacity of the method; b) analyse GVA as a function of age when the surgery was performed and c) compare the results of GVA in unior bilateral patients. The testability obtained with TAC was 97% and the average duration of application of the test was 12 min. G VA values were below the norms in 41% of the eyes (the great majority of which were bilaterally aphakic) and within the norms in 7% (most of which had mild or punctiform cataracts). The remaining eyes showed only light perception (19%) or were older than the age range covered by the norms (32%). There was one also a case of amaurosis in one eye. Patients with unilateral aphakia had lower GVA than bilateral ones that had surgery at the same age. The results obtained confirm the clinical usefulness of the TAC as an instrument for diagnosis of GVA in infants and children with cataracts.