Abstract
Abstract: :
Purpose: In the year 2001, more than one million laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) procedures have been performed in the United States. Considering the long term collective accumulation of individuals who will have undergone refractive procedures, eye banks will be increasingly confronted with the problem of how to identify those donors with prior refractive surgery. Until now, efficient screening methods to identify excimer laser vision correction surgery in donor eyes have not been established. Thus the purpose of the present study is to determine if Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) can be utilized to detect the presence of LASIK - induced changes in human corneas. Methods:: LASIK was performed on 20 organ cultured human cornea discs. The excimer laser ablation performed ranged from 0 - 12 diopters. The corneas were maintained in culture, and structural changes were measured with OCT on day 1, 2, 7, 14 and 1, 2, 4, and 6 months after the LASIK procedure. Results: OCT scans were able to detect the interface between the corneal flap and the residual stromal tissue in all corneas and at all examined time intervals. There were no differences in signal intensity among the different ablations depths. The relative intensity compared to averaged stromal intensity ranged from 2.1 - 6.8. Conclusion: Examination of corneoscleral discs by OCT appears to be an appropriate technique for eye banks to screen donor corneas for prior LASIK surgery.
Keywords: 548 refractive surgery: LASIK • 370 cornea: basic science • 607 transplantation