Incision maintained by using either torsional or longitudinal ultrasound

BARCELONA — Ocular surface ingression in the anterior chamber after micro-coaxial phacoemulsification was detected with either torsional or longitudinal ultrasound, according to a presenter here.

Vaishali Vasavada

Vaishali Vasavada, MS, compared the amount of ocular surface fluid ingress into the anterior chamber by using trypan blue as the quantifying tracer between eyes that underwent micro-coaxial phacoemulsification with either torsional or longitudinal ultrasound.

"Trypan blue ingress was statistically significantly greater following phaco with longitudinal ultrasound as compared with torsional ultrasound," she said at the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons meeting.

The prospective, randomized, masked study included 80 eyes undergoing micro-coaxial phacoemulsification for age-related cataracts through a 2.2-mm single-plane incision. Eyes were randomized into two groups. After surgery, 0.5 mL of 0.0125% sterile trypan blue was instilled on the ocular surface and kept for 2 minutes, and 0.1 mL of aqueous was aspirated. The optical density was measured using a UV spectrophotometer.

Trypan blue ingress was found in both groups, suggesting that integrity of the incision is maintained using either application of ultrasound energy, Dr. Vasavada said.