HOW IS IT SUCCESSFUL IN INTRASTROMAL LENTICULE IMPLANTATION?

Our study aims to calculate the thickness of the fresh lenticule depending on the corneal thickness of patients with advanced keratoconus and to investigate it after implantation with the SMILE Module.

Eye Hospital,Pristina,Kosovo

 One hundred twenty eyes with advanced keratoconus indicated for corneal transplantation were included in this study. Fresh myopic lenticular implants were placed in all eyes through SMILE surgery. Lenticular implants were extracted from patients with myopic refractive errors of the cornea. The implantation of fresh lenticule thickness depends on keratoconus corneal thickness, for example, if the corneal central thickness is 300-400 μm we implanted 1/2 stroma if CCT is 400 μm or more we implanted 1/3 stroma For Example: if CCTis 300 μm we implanted 150 μm (becoming 450 μm) we added more stroma due to more live keratocytes, stromal stem cells, and Telocytes, aiming to overcome dead and nonfunctional keratocytes.

The preoperative CCT increased from 312.35 ± 11.24 µm to 479.35 ± 4.31 µm  (P < .001), the preoperative CCT increased from 367± 6.91 µm to 481.95 ± 6.00 µm  (P < .001), the preoperative CCT increased from 398 ± 12.29 µm to 482.10 ± 7.12 µm (P < .001).

We have concluded that every biomechanical instability of corneal stroma function(abnormal increase in collagen activity, decrease in proteinase inhibitors, excessive premature keratocyte apoptosis) describes the role of stroma in corneal thickness. As we have seen when the thickness of the fresh lenticule is calculated and implanted depending on the corneal thickness of the patients with advanced keratoconus, both the corneal thickness increases and the corneal regeneration since contains enough live stem cells, keratocytes, and telocytes.

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04848740