1. Sarnicola Air–Visco Bubble Technique in Deep Anterior Lamellar Keratoplasty
- Author
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Vicenzo Sarnicola, Patricia Toro, James P. McCulley, Orkun Muftuoglu, R. Wayne Bowman, R. Nick Hogan, Venkateswara Mootha, and H. Dwight Cavanagh
- Subjects
medicine.medical_specialty ,Materials science ,genetic structures ,medicine.diagnostic_test ,Descemet membrane ,Air ,Corneal Stroma ,Bubble ,medicine.medical_treatment ,Lamellar keratoplasty ,Pneumatic pressure ,Cannula ,Corneal Diseases ,Corneal Transplantation ,Ophthalmology ,Optical coherence tomography ,medicine ,Humans ,Descemet Membrane ,Microdissection ,Secondary air injection ,Corneal transplantation ,Retrospective Studies - Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this study was to describe a new modification for big-bubble deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK) using pneumatic pressure to detach Descemet membrane (DM) via air injection followed by ophthalmic viscoelastic device (OVD) injection. Methods After failure of big-bubble formation after air injection, OVD was injected from a different site other than the previous air injection using a 27-gauge cannula to detach DM, called air-visco bubble (AVB) DALK technique. The technique was used in 7 human corneoscleral rims that were investigated with anterior segment optical coherence tomography and histopathology and in 69 eyes that underwent DALK surgeries. Results Big-bubble formation was noted in 4 of 7 of the donor corneoscleral rims. The anterior segment optical coherence tomography showed big-bubble formations together with intrastromal OVD accumulation. The histology of the donor corneas showed microdetachments at the DM in the periphery, deep intrastromal separation, and big-bubble formation filled with OVD. One hundred forty-one of 210 eyes (67%) underwent successful DALK with only air injection, and 69 of 210 eyes (33%) underwent AVB technique when a big bubble was not achieved with only air injection. All the corneas showed a clear interface with good wound healing when DM was bared with the AVB DALK technique. Conclusions Additional OVD injection to detach DM may be useful in cases where air injection fails. Also, creating small DM detachments with air injection may facilitate the formation of a big bubble with further OVD injection.
- Published
- 2013
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