Balanced Salt Solution Contained within Plastic Bag and the one Encased within Bottle

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Air bubbles developed during phcoemulsification procedure are known to be harmful to corneal endothelial cells and balanced salt solution(BSS) contained within plastic bag(Bag BSS) has been thought to be more prone to the air bubble formation than the one encased within bottle(Bottle BSS). For the above reason, we tried to see whether there is any difference in corneal endothelial cell changes between two groups of patients who underwent phacoemulsification using Bag BSS and Bottle BSS respectively. METHODS: 85 cataract eyes of 60 patients were randomly assigned to two groups of Bag BSS(43 eyes) and Bottle BSS(42 eyes), on which phacoemulsification was performed through scleral tunnel incision followed by silicone PCL placement. Corneal endothelial cells were examined using specular microscopy postoperatively at 1 month and compared with preoperative specular microscopic data. RESULTS: The percent loss of corneal endothelial cell density at postoperative 1 month for the Bag BSS group(13.02+/-0.7%) was not significantly different from the Bottle BSS group(12.8+/-8.1%)(p>0.05). Coeffcient of variation in cell size(p>0.05) and mean endothelial cell size(p>0.05) also showed no significant difference between the two groups. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, Bag BSS and Bottle BSS have similiar protective effect on the corneal endothelial cell damage during phocoemulsification.