Our Experience With Mitomycin Intravascular Chemoembolization (Mice) - A Procedure For Treatment Of Corneal Neovascularization

Mitomycin (MMC) intravascular chemoembolization (MICE) is a novel surgical technique for the treatment of visually significant corneal neovascularization (NV) and lipid keratopathy.

Ophthalmology Department, Wolfson Medical Center, Israel.

Retrospective review of our initial experience with MICE. In all cases, we injected MMC 0.04% into the corneal feeding vessel using a 33 gauge needle. All cases except one were examined at postoperative day (POD) 1 and 3 weeks postoperatively.

Five patients presented with corneal neovascularization resulting from different etiologies: Steven-Johnson syndrome, alkalic burn, herpes keratopathy, corneal infection, and corneal scar. In the first three patients, there was a significant regression of the injected NVs, yet the third patient experienced recurrence and is scheduled for a second MICE injection. The fourth patient showed no significant regression, and the last patient was only examined on POD1 due to a general medical condition.

MICE has shown a possible potential as an effective treatment of corneal NVs in several selected indications. Further investigation and follow-up are needed to determine which cases will benefit from this procedure.