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Laser welding may be effective for capsule repair
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NAPLES, Italy — A new laser welding technique may help repair lens capsule trauma that occurs during standard IOL implantation and in providing closure of the capsulorrhexis in lens-refilling procedures, according to an international team of surgeons.
Experiments were carried out in enucleated porcine eyes. A patch of donor capsular tissue of a few square millimeters was stained with a solution of indocyanine green, applied on a capsulorrhexis and then sealed to the capsule surface by a series of laser welding spots delivered by the optical fiber of a diode laser.
"Following laser welding, the patches showed a very good resistance to mechanical traction and were effective in sealing the capsular content of heavy silicone oil," Luca Menabuoni, MD, said at the joint meeting of Ocular Surgery News and the Italian Society of Ophthalmology.
Optimum laser irradiation parameters were identified to minimize heat damage and alterations to the capsule morphology, as confirmed by histological examination.
The same technique was previously used for sealing the corneal wound in a series including 20 eyes of 20 patients undergoing phacoemulsification surgery or extracapsular cataract extraction. The diode laser-assisted procedure produced a tight sealing, with no collateral effects.
The study on laser welding applications involves the Ophthalmology Department of Prato Hospital in Italy, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute in the United States and the National Research Council of Florence, Italy.