Purpose To compare the in vitro optical quality of multifocal apodized intraocular lenses (IOLs) at different focal points. Setting University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain. Design Experimental study. Methods The Acrysof Restor +3.0 diopter (D) multifocal IOL with 2 main foci (bifocal IOL) and the Finevision multifocal IOL with 3 main foci (trifocal IOL) were evaluated. The optical quality was quantified using the modulation transfer function (MTF) at 7 focal points and for 3.0 mm and 4.5 mm apertures. The through-focus MTF at 10 focal points of the IOLs was also recorded. Results For the 0.0 D and −2.5 D focal points, the bifocal IOL showed the highest MTF values for pupil sizes as well as for the −3.0 D focal point for a 3.0 mm aperture. For the −1.5 D and −3.5 D focal points, the trifocal IOL provided better MTF values, whereas for −2.0 D and −4.0 D both IOLs provided comparable results for both apertures. The through-focus MTF curves showed 3 and 2 peaks for the trifocal IOL and the bifocal IOL, respectively. With the bifocal IOL, better peak values were obtained at the 0.0 D, −2.0 D, −2.5 D, and −3.0 D focal points, while the trifocal IOL yielded better peak values at the −1.5 D and −3.5 D focal points. Conclusion The bifocal IOL is likely to provide a greater range of vision from distance to near than the trifocal IOL; however, at the intermediate focal point (−1.5 D), the trifocal IOL will probably yield better optical quality. Financial Disclosure No author has a financial or proprietary interest in any material or method mentioned.
