Preliminary study on composite iris retractors
Ewa Stodolak, Rafał Leszczyński, Teresa Gumuła, Stanisław Błażewicz 1, 3, 4 Akademia Górniczo-Hutnicza, Wydział Inżynierii Materiałowej i Ceramiki, Katedra Biomateriałów, al. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Kraków, Poland 2 Śląska Akademia Medyczna, Katedra Okulistyki, ul. Ceglana 35, 40-952 Katowice, Poland
Quarterly No. 2, 2008 pages 164-167
DOI:
keywords: iris retractors, ophthalmology microtool, biocompatibility
abstract The most popular retractors used in ophthalmology practice are made of plastics, usually nylon. Their main drawback is high stiffness of heads, which may cause many complications such as: damage of the iris constrictor, or iris atony (lack of reaction of the iris to a change in light intensity). The second group of materials used for the retractors is metals such as gold and titanium. Although they are easier to make required shapes, they could be dangerous due to their sharp tips which may cause iris rupture, lens capsule rupture or damage of corneal endothelium. Because of common incidence of eye affections requiring application of the iris retractors, much effort is put into investigations of new, biocompatible materials, which would be easy to apply during the operation, and on the other hand would minimise the risk of occurrence of post-surgery complications. The work presents preliminary results on fibrous composites which are planned to be used as elastic materials for production of ophthalmology microtools in the form of iris retractors. At present, for this purpose pure polymers are often used. The main drawback of such tools is their small cross section area, which makes them mechanically sensible, often resulting in their fracture. In this work number of composite materials containing various fibrous reinforcements such as natural fibres (cellulose, silk), polymer fibres (PAN), and biopolymer fibres (Ca(Alg)2, Zn(Alg)2) and two types of epoxy resins (E601, E540) as the composite matrix were prepared. Physicochemical properties of these composites, as well as their practical usefulness were compared to a commercially available polymer product. In order to provide suitable smoothness of the surface, and to improve bio-compatibility of the composites, the retractors were covered with a layer of teflon-based polymer. Surfaces of the composites were evaluated microscopically (stereoscopic microscope, optical microscope), and physically (length, diameter, angle of curvature). The last part of the research was an assessment of practical usefulness of the composite retractors by installing them in the pig eyeball.