ABSORBABLE SCLERAL IMPLANTS IN SURGERY OF RETINAL-DETACHMENT - 1ST RESULTS OF ANIMAL-EXPERIMENTS

In detachment surgery after a mechanically stabile chorioretinal scar is at present full scleral indentation no longer mandatory. Following these considerations absorbable scleral implants have been developed and tested in an animal model. Cylindrical pieces of absorbable composite-material with a diameter of 5 mm were sutured as radial scleral explants in 18 rabbits. The composite material consisted of a polyglactin-polydioxanon ratio 7:1. The absorption time for polyglactin is 60 days, for polydioxanon 180 days. The explants produced initially in ultrasonographically measured buckle height between 3,2 and 4,0 mm. The clinical and ultrasonographical follow up study demonstrated a continuous decrease of buckle height. Two weeks after implantation there was a medium height of 2,0 mm after five weeks a medium elevation of 0,5 mm was found. Histophatological examinations showed incidence of a slight resorptive inflammation in the area of the buckle which was not evident after 12 weeks. No scleral infiltration or scleral thinning was found. The promising results have justified controlled clinical trials with the absorbable material which might allow to combine the advantages of silicone sponge explants (precise localization) with those of scleral buckles by inflatible ballons (reversibility).