Resumen de Visco-bubble technique for deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty

José Luis Güell Villanueva, Diego Aristizábal Montes

• PURPOSE: To describe a modification of the deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK) surgical technique.

  SETTING: Instituto de Microcirugía Ocular in Barcelona, Spain and Clínica Clofán in Medellín, Colombia.

  METHODS: Design: Retrospective interventional case series. Study population: 21 eyes from 21 patients who underwent visco-bubble technique for DALK, which involves the injection of ophthalmic viscosurgical devices (OVDs) into the deep stroma to form a visco-bubble to separate Descemet´s membrane from the posterior stroma. Surgeries were performed between May 2010 and January 2013. Main outcome measures: Preoperative and postoperative best spectacle-corrected visual acuity (BSCVA) and complication rate.

  RESULTS: At 6 months, BSCVA improved from 20/100 (logMar 0.7) preoperative to 20/32 (0.20) postoperative. There were no intraoperative complications. This technique reduces the risk of intraoperative corneal perforation and maintains visibility during viscobubble formation.

  CONCLUSIONS: Visco-bubble technique for DALK gives better visualization, reduces the risk of perforation, and is reproducible.