[Surgical treatment of high grade progressive myopia. Results and histological studies]. / Die operative Behandlung der hochgradigen progressiven Myopie. Ergebnisse und histologische Studien.

Since 1987 scleroplastic operations have been performed at the Clinic of Ophthalmology in Magdeburg in patients suffering from progressive high-grade myopia. Lyophilized dura transplants are used for these operations. The patients are up to 30 years of age and all were reexamined 1 year after the operation. During the follow-up study we observed no change in axial length in 80% of the patients; a positive tendency in the behaviour of the visus and increased rigidity of the sclera. There were few complications of the operation, and these were mild and transitory. They disappeared when treated with anti-inflammatory drops. Additional histological investigations were performed in animals. Rabbit's eyes showed vitalization of the lyophilized tissue after initial inflammation and antibody reaction. Goats' eyes did not show any signs of inflammation when examined after 3 months, and the transplants had taken well on the sclera.

[Etiology and morphology of retrocorneal membranes following microsurgical operations of the anterior eye segment]. / Zur Atiologie und Morphologie retrokornealer Membranen nach mikrochirurgischen Operationen am vorderen Augenabschnitt.

This report deals with light and electron microscopic findings in 47 corneal disks obtained in the course of keratoplasties performed for bullous keratopathy. Previous surgery had included intracapsular cataract extraction in 12 cases, intracapsular cataract extraction with implantation of iris-supported artificial lenses in 8, and keratoplasty for treatment of various conditions in 27 cases. The interval between the first operation and the keratoplasty was seven years on average in the first group and three years in the two other groups. In 34 out of 47 cases a retrocorneal membrane was found to be responsible for the keratopathy. Stromal fibroblasts as well as endothelial cells of the cornea may participate in the formation of the membrane. It is suspected that postoperative bullous keratopathy is always caused by a retrocorneal membrane, which is, however, sometimes only demonstrable by electron microscopy.