A new in vitro method to evaluate the microbial killing rate in CXL

Poster Details

First Author: DavidTabibian SWITZERLAND

Co Author(s):    Olivier Richoz   Farhad Hafezi           

Abstract Details

Purpose:

To present a new in vitro method to evaluate the killing rate of bacteria, fungus and amibia during corneal collagen cross-linking (CXL).

Setting:

: Analyzing the effective killing rate of microorganisms in the cornea during CXL can be challenging, due to a depth-dependent decline of energy levels that follows the Lambert-Beer law.

Methods:

We tested two types of polymers with the following characteristics: almost 100% transmission at 365nm, water content more than 50%, thickness of 300 µm. One is a chemical polymer derived from a non-toxic plastic, whereas the second has a structure similar to the human cornea. A water column of 300 µm thickness in the absence of a polymer served as control.

Results:

Both polymers showed an almost 100% microbial killing rate, whereas the killing rate in the control group was at 20%.

Conclusions:

For UV-transmittant media, the main factor determining the microbial killing rate is polymer thickness rather than its structure. FINANCIAL INTEREST: NONE