Postoperative follow up by dynamic light scattering: detection of inflammatory molecular changes in the cornea, the vitreous and the lens.
OBJECTIVE
To detect post-op molecular changes and inflammatory processes by dynamic light scattering (DLS) in eye segments. To develop DLS parameters which are appropriate for the control of post-op course after ophthalmologic surgery. METHODS, DESIGN: Three new DLS devices were tested in different post-op clinical settings such as pseudoexfoliation syndrome (PEX), cataract surgery and retinal surgery. In a second step DLS was used to detect molecular changes in the cornea of 6 patients after photo refractive keratectomy (PRK) and 16 patients after photo astigmatic refractive keratectomy (PARK).


RESULTS
In PEX-patients cataract surgery changed the DLS signals of the anterior chamber and the lens in a specific way compared to the pre-op situation. Cataract patients without PEX had more scattering particles post-op and retinal surgery modified the DLS signal of the vitreous. Furthermore it was shown that the length of the corneal scattering vector l correlated with the process of the corneal wound healing after PARK. One and three months after surgery the lengths of the scattering vectors had increased significantly but returned to pre-op values twelve months post-op.


CONCLUSIONS
The post-op transparency of eye segments such as the cornea, the vitreous and the anterior chamber depends primarily on the wound healing mechanisms. DLS seems to be a suitable method to control the corneal recovery after refractive surgery.


CONCLUSIONS
The length of the scattering vector l correlates well with the wound healing after refractive surgery. However DLS-signals seem to contain information about the molecular composition of tissue too. Therefore further research is needed to refine the interpretation of the DLS signals.
Department of Ophthalmology, Städtisches Klinikum, Auenweg 38, D-06847 Dessau, Germany. franz.fankhauser@klinikum-dessau.de
Franz
F
Fankhauser
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002386:Cataract / Q000503:physiopathology; D002387:Cataract Extraction; D003315:Cornea / Q000503:physiopathology*; D019781:Corneal Topography; D004867:Equipment Design; D017889:Exfoliation Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery; D053685:Laser Therapy; D054018:Lasers, Excimer; D007908:Lens, Crystalline / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009885:Ophthalmology / Q000295:instrumentation; D018903:Photorefractive Keratectomy; D011184:Postoperative Period; D012029:Refraction, Ocular; D012163:Retinal Detachment / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014785:Vision, Ocular; D014822:Vitreous Body / Q000503:physiopathology*