Experimental Keratoprosthesis Using Expanded PTFE(Gore-Tex(R) as a Supporting Skirt

ABSTRACT

Although its high successability in numerous corneal diseases, penetrating keratoplasty in certain conditions, such as chemical burn, ocular pemphigoid, Stevens-Johnson syndrome, severe dry eye, and recurrent graft rejection still has had poor outcomes. So far, many keratoprostheses have been developed, but none of them showed consistent successful results. The authors made two models of keratoprosthesis using expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) as a skirt and these models were implanted to 30 and 5 rabbit corneas by intralamellar fixation respectively. Expanded PTFE was well-known for its biocompatibility and porous structure which fibrovascular tissue can grow in. However, both of the models extruded from the cornea in all cases and retention period was 1 month in average. These poor results are thought to be mainly due to previously known enzymatic degradation. To obtain better result, modification of the models and surgical techniques are needed. Several possible modifications are described in this article.