Investigation of femtosecond laser-Enabled keratoplasty wound geometry using optical coherence tomography

Martin Heur, Maolong Tang, Samuel Yiu, Xinbo Zhang, David Huang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

12 Scopus citations

Abstract

Purpose: To measure the wound geometry after femtosecond laser-enabled keratoplasty (FLEK) using optical coherence tomography (OCT). DESIGN:: Prospective nonrandomized clinical study and laboratory study. PARTICIPANTS:: Patients who were candidates for penetrating keratoplasty at an academic referral center. Methods: Wound architecture was measured and analyzed by OCT in 8 eyes of 8 consecutive patients who underwent FLEK. Femtosecond laser lamellar cuts were performed on 3 eye bank corneas, and the wound diameters were measured by OCT. Results: Sutures were completely removed on average at 1 month per decade of age after surgery. No cases of wound dehiscence were noted, and graft-host tissue apposition appeared excellent on OCT. The mean spectacle-corrected visual acuity 1 month after suture removal was 20/35, and mean astigmatism was 5.0 diopters by manifest refraction and 8.7 diopters by computerized topography. The measured graft diameter was smaller than the laser setting by 2.5% (P = 0.007). The cut diameters of the eye bank corneas were also slightly smaller than the laser setting. Conclusions: FLEK offers benefits of rapid wound healing and predictable wound geometry. The measured wound geometry agreed well with laser setting other than a small systematic deviation that could be explained by the mechanics of corneal applanation during the laser cut. OCT is a useful tool to measure the actual graft diameter after FLEK.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)889-894
Number of pages6
JournalCornea
Volume30
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2011
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • femtosecond laser
  • optical coherence tomography
  • penetrating keratoplasty
  • wound geometry

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Ophthalmology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Investigation of femtosecond laser-Enabled keratoplasty wound geometry using optical coherence tomography'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this