The Effect of Amniotic Membrane on Adhesion after Strabismus Surgery in Rabbits

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: Amniotic membrane has been used as an effective graft intraabdominally to prevent postoperative adhesion formation. We evaluated whether amniotic membrane would be effective in preventing adhesion after strabismus surgery in the rabbits. METHODS: After bilateral recessions of superior rectus(SR) were performed on 10 rabbits, iatrogenic bleeding was induced by scratching the surface of SR with a blade. For the experimental group, the SR was enveloped with folded, epithelial side-out, human amniotic membrane in the right eyes of all rabbits, while the left SR was left in each rabbit to act as a control. At two weeks postoperatively, both eyes were enucleated after being sacrificed. Masson's trichrome staining was performed and the degree of fibrous proliferation and inflammation were evaluated and scored grade 0 to 3. RESULTS: The degree of fibrosis was observed to be lower in the experimental group than in the control group (1.672.33). However, there was no statistical significance(p>0.05). Also, there was no statistical significance in the degree of inflammation between experimental and control groups(p>0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The amniotic membrane showed no significant effect of prevention of adhesion after strabismus surgery in the rabbit model.