[Corneal wound healing after experimental penetrating keratoplasty after excimer laser trephination in free form].

Background: The postoperative clinical course after penetrating keratoplasty and trephination in free form using a guided excimer laser beam has been published before. Here the findings of light-microscopy comparing corneal wound healing after experimental penetrating keratoplasty after laser trephination and after conventional mechanical trephination are presented.
Materials and Methods: Homologous penetrating keratoplasty was performed on 12 NZW rabbits (6 animals with mechanical trephination, 6 animals with excimer laser trephination). The cutting edges achieved by both trephination techniques were examined by light microscopy in the remaining donor rings. During the postoperative follow-up animals were sacrificed at 3 and 6 weeks and at 3 months. Corneal specimens were retrieved and corneal healing processes were evaluated by light microscopy.
Results: The cutting edges of corneal excisions with the excimer laser demonstrated a high precision with only minimal collateral damage to adjacent tissue structures. At the different intervals both trephination groups demonstrated comparable stages of corneal wound healing regarding epithelial regeneration, stromal fibroblast migration with collagen synthesis and Descemet repair by endothelial synthesis of basement membrane. After 6 months corneal specimens of both groups demonstrated complete healing with nearly parallel orientation of newly synthesised collagen lamellae. Corneal thickness in the wound areas did not differ significantly from normal corneal tissue.
Conclusions: Experimental follow-up studies to evaluate the feasibility of the developed technology of laser trephination in the living eye have shown no differences between conventional mechanical and excimer laser trephination with a guided beam. The present histology study also does not demonstrate any significant differences in corneal wound healing between the two trephination groups. Although excimer laser trephination along metal masks has now been established for several years, the here presented technique for trephination with individualised transplant geometries appears to be a valuable addition to the surgical repertoire in the presence of selected corneal pathologies.