title: Sarnicola air-visco bubble technique in deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to describe a new modification for big-bubble deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK) using pneumatic pressure to detach Descemet membrane (DM) via air injection followed by ophthalmic viscoelastic device (OVD) injection.
  
  
  METHODS
  After failure of big-bubble formation after air injection, OVD was injected from a different site other than the previous air injection using a 27-gauge cannula to detach DM, called air-visco bubble (AVB) DALK technique. The technique was used in 7 human corneoscleral rims that were investigated with anterior segment optical coherence tomography and histopathology and in 69 eyes that underwent DALK surgeries.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Big-bubble formation was noted in 4 of 7 of the donor corneoscleral rims. The anterior segment optical coherence tomography showed big-bubble formations together with intrastromal OVD accumulation. The histology of the donor corneas showed microdetachments at the DM in the periphery, deep intrastromal separation, and big-bubble formation filled with OVD. One hundred forty-one of 210 eyes (67%) underwent successful DALK with only air injection, and 69 of 210 eyes (33%) underwent AVB technique when a big bubble was not achieved with only air injection. All the corneas showed a clear interface with good wound healing when DM was bared with the AVB DALK technique.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Additional OVD injection to detach DM may be useful in cases where air injection fails. Also, creating small DM detachments with air injection may facilitate the formation of a big bubble with further OVD injection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390-9057, USA.
authors.forename: Orkun
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Muftuoglu
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Toro
authors.forename: R Nick
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Hogan
authors.forename: R Wayne
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Bowman
authors.forename: H Dwight
authors.initials: HD
authors.lastname: Cavanagh
authors.forename: James P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: McCulley
authors.forename: V Vinod
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Mootha
authors.forename: Vicenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Sarnicola
mesh_terms: D000388:Air; D003316:Corneal Diseases / Q000601:surgery*; D003319:Corneal Stroma / Q000601:surgery; D016039:Corneal Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D003886:Descemet Membrane / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D042282:Microdissection / Q000379:methods; D012189:Retrospective Studies