To determine the effect of pressurising the infusion bottle with DigiFlow technology on the flow rate of different diameter handpieces

Session Details

Session Title: Cat Surgery Equip/Phaco

Session Date/Time: Monday 15/09/2014 | 14:30-16:00

Paper Time: 14:36

Venue: Boulevard F (Level 1)

First Author: : P.Ursell UK

Co Author(s): :                  

Abstract Details

Purpose:

The flow rate into the anterior chamber is governed by the pressure of gravity from the infusion bottle and the diameter of the handpiece. Increasing the bottle height will increase the flow and decreasing the diameter of the handpiece will reduce it. The maximum height of the bottle is 140cm but despite this the flow through smaller handpieces may never reach that of larger ones. Digiflow pressurises the bottle to add extra flow in addition to the height of the bottle.

Setting:

Surrey UK

Methods:

We measured the flow of different diameter infusor handpieces with different bottle heights and Digiflow pressures to quantify this. 20 &21g bimanual MICS infusors, MICS and 2.5mm CapsuleGuard I/A handpieces and MICS & 2.5mm Phako handpeices were used. The flow rate was measured at 30, 85 & 140 cm bottle height with 0%, 50% & 100% Digiflow additional pressure.

Results:

The flow rate for the smaller bimanual 20g & 21g infusors was unable to match that of coaxial irrigators unless Digiflow was applied. With Digiflow pressure applied the flow rate of the smaller infusors improved. With maximum bottle height, it was still less than a coaxial infusor with minimal bottle height.

Conclusions:

When performing bimanual phakoemulsification the Digiflow enhanced the flow of fluid into the anterior chamber to improve dynamic stability during surgery. This enabled smaller bimanual MICS handpieces to achieve flow rates similar to but less than coaxial infusors.

Financial Interest:

NONE