Femtosecond laser creation of donor cornea buttons for Descemet-stripping endothelial keratoplasty.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the accuracy of the thickness and diameter of corneal disks obtained with the Femtec femtosecond laser (20/10 Perfect Vision) for Descemet-stripping endothelial keratoplasty (DSEK).


METHODS
Singapore National Eye Centre, Singapore.


METHODS
A femtosecond laser was used to create posterior stromal ablations at varying depths, producing donor lenticules 150 to 200 microm thick with diameters of 7.0 to 9.5 mm (n = 40). After stromal ablation, the central corneal thickness was measured by anterior segment optical coherence tomography and the diameters were measured using imaging software.


RESULTS
The mean deviation from the attempted thickness was 15 +/- 14 microm. No correlation was found between the preoperative corneal thickness and the accuracy of the laser ablation (P = .91). No statistically significant differences were found in the accuracy of the laser ablation with multiple-pass nomograms (P = .15). The laser was accurate in producing circular diameters with an arc length between 7.0 mm and 9.5 mm (r2 = 0.935, P = .001).


CONCLUSIONS
The femtosecond laser produced posterior stromal ablations that were accurate in depth of ablation and circularity.
Mehta
Jodhbir S
JS
Singapore National Eye Centre, Singapore.
Shilbayeh
Rania
R
Por
Yong-Ming
YM
Cajucom-Uy
Howard
H
Beuerman
Roger W
RW
Tan
Donald T
DT
D003319:Corneal Stroma / Q000601:surgery*; D016039:Corneal Transplantation; D003886:Descemet Membrane / Q000601:surgery*; D004728:Endothelium, Corneal / Q000637:transplantation*; D006801:Humans; D053685:Laser Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D014019:Tissue Donors