Femtosecond laser-assisted anterior lamellar keratoplasty using the VICTUS femtosecond laser

Session Details

Session Title: Presented Poster Session: Spotlight on Cornea

Venue: Poster Village: Pod 2

First Author: : P.Laubichler AUSTRIA

Co Author(s): :    P. Jirak   M. Bolz   S. Mariacher                 

Abstract Details

Purpose:

The DALK (deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty) constitutes a huge challenge for beginners and experienced surgeons alike. Creating a big bubble requires plenty of practice. Even in the hands of an experienced surgeon, it is associated with a high conversion rate to penetrating keratoplasty. This study investigated, whether using the VICTUS femtosecond laser system for corneal incisions influences surgical outcome and conversion rate to penetrating keratoplasty compared to manual corneal incisions.

Setting:

Kepler University Clinic Linz, Department of Ophthalmology

Methods:

Human corneoscleral rims were put into a Barron artificial anterior chamber. Incisions were made using the VICTUS femtosecond laser. In a second cohort corneal cuts were performed manually. A big bubble was created by one corneal surgeon without prior experience in DALK. Then, the anterior stroma was dissected and cut off trying not to tear the descemets membrane.

Results:

The primary end point of the study was the creation of a complete big bubble. The secondary end point was the removal of the elevated anterior stroma without damaging the descemets membrane. It could be shown that even a DALK beginner is able to create an intact big bubble significantly more often when the cornea has been prepared using the femtosecond laser. The two cohorts showed no significant difference in the successful preparation of the anterior stroma.

Conclusions:

By using VICTUS femtosecond laser for the big bubble technique even beginners can perform DALK safely. This constitutes a significant improvement in surgical outcome and patient safety.

Financial Disclosure:

None