In Vivo Femtosecond Laser-Assisted Posterior Lamellar Keratoplasty in Rabbits

Abstract

The femtosecond laser can make nonmechanical cuts for posterior lamellar keratoplasty with relative ease and reliability in rabbit eyes. A minimum residual anterior corneal thickness may need to be maintained to prevent ectasia.

In Vivo Effects of Femtosecond Laser–Assisted Keratoplasty

“…Mian and colleagues 5 reported seeing well-integrated lamellar interfaces and smooth trephination edges in vivo 3 months after performing femtosecond laser-assisted posterior lamellar keratoplasty in rabbits. Our findings regarding the trephination edges and the lamellar interface in human eyes corroborate their results.…”

Histologic Evaluation of Human Posterior Lamellar Discs for Femtosecond Laser Descemet's Stripping Endothelial Keratoplasty

“…5,7,[10][11][12][13][14] Currently, there are 3 femtosecond lasers available for corneal surgical applications: Intralase (AMO-Intralase Corp.), FEMTEC (20/10 Perfect Vision, Heidelberg, Germany), and Ziemer Ophthalmic Systems AG (FEMTO LDV, Port, Switzerland). Experimental and clinical applications of femtosecond lasers include laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) flap creation, 15,16 tunnel incision for corneal rings, 17,18 wedgeshaped resection in correction of high residual astigmatism, 19 lamellar and full-thickness keratoplasty techniques 7,10,12,14,[20][21][22] and shaped full-thickness keratoplasty with different donorrecipient patterns. [23][24][25][26][27] Recently, the feasibility of the femtosecond laser for preparing posterior lamellar disks for DSEK was described.…”

Deposit of glass fragments during femtosecond laser penetrating keratoplasty

“…Clinical investigations have revealed that when employing a femtosecond laser, the wound healing is improved, and the astigmatism as well as the wavefront aberrations induced by the surgery are reduced [3][4][5]. As ultrafast lasers can induce cuts in the volume of the tissue at various depths and along different paths, they are used more and more frequently to perform penetrating keratoplasties with diverse shapes [6][7][8][9] as well as anterior or posterior lamellar keratoplasties [10][11][12][13], following pre-programmed protocols. Regardless of the type of keratoplasty performed, in a standard protocol an applanation cone is used to flatten the cornea upon application of pressure.…”