Posters

To stress or not to stess: vitreous staining with Trypan-blue after imperfect curvilinear capsulorhexis during cataract surgery

Poster Details

First Author: Z.Tegou GREECE

Co Author(s): G. Karagiannidis- Stampoulis   E. Kanonidou                 

Abstract Details

Purpose:

Trypan-blue is the most commonly used dye in ophthalmic operations, in order to enhance visualization of the targeted tissues. Generally, the application of trypan-blue is considered safe and of increased importance due to expanding indications for its use. Our aim is to report a case of vitreous staining caused by leakage of trypan-blue in the posterior chamber during cataract surgery, and to evaluate the safety of trypan-blue application in cataract surgery

Setting:

Department of Ophthalmology, Hippokrateion General Hospital of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece.

Methods:

Trypan-blue capsule staining was used during cataract surgery on an 80 year old male, in order to facilitate capsulorrhexis due to mature cataract. The continuous curvilinear capsulorrhexis was eventful, since a posterior capsule rupture occurred, therefore leading to accidental vitreous staining. This made the operation much more difficult, due to the loss of red reflex.

Results:

Fortunately, the operation was completed uneventfully. The vitreous staining started to clear in a week’s time and IOP was always within the normal range. The patient had a best corrected visual acuity of 0.8 and both slit-lamp examination and fundoscopy showed no significant findings one month after surgery.

Conclusions:

Trypan-blue is a widely used vital dye in most ophthalmic operations and has been tested in numerous clinical studies for its safety. The majority of these studies have revealed no significant toxicity or complications relevant to its use, such as rise of the IOP, increase of intraocular inflammation, associated post-operative macular edema, thickening of the cornea or decrease of endothelial cell count. In our case, there were no postoperative complications associated with trypan-blue staining of the vitreous after imperfect curvilinear capsulorrhexis during cataract surgery.

Financial Disclosure:

None