Abstract
Purpose::
To analyze a model using pig eyes filled with hand soap, jelly candy and champingnon serving as pseudonuclei with the goal of teaching dividing techniques of phacoemulsification
Methods::
Fifteen pig eyes underwent a superior escleral incision, capsulorex and lens extraction. Pseudonuclei were confectioned with three different substances: hand soap, jelly candy and champingnon. These substances were trimmed to lens size and inserted in the capsular bag through the incision, which was then sutured. Fifteen eyes were filled with each substance resulting in three groups five of eyes. After these preparatory procedures, five experienced surgeons practiced pre-slice nuclear fracture technique in one eye of each group in a masked way and answered a questionnaire in order to evaluate the similarities with human lens (color and consistency), facility of fracture and quality of the model.
Results::
There was no difference regarding color and consistency. Groups 1 and 2 (hand soap and jelly candy) were statistically better than the third group when considering facility of fracture (p=0.0178 and 0.0216) and quality of model (p=0.037 and 0.0052), however no statistically signicant difference was observed when comparing the groups 1 and 2 regarding these two questions (p=0.9436 and 0.4795). Even so, sixty percent of surgeons preferred the jelly candy as the best model for simulating a human cataract.
Conclusions::
The cataract created by this method may be useful in teaching pre-slice technique. This new approach using hand soap or jelly candy provides suitable specimens for practicing dividing techniques of phacoemulsification. Most surgeons chose the jelly cand model as the best one for training.
Keywords: training/teaching cataract surgery • cataract • color appearance/constancy