The thermal safety of system for ultrasonic aspiration of lens cortex

The purpose of work is an experimental evaluation of the thermal safety of system for aspiration of lens cortex with the possibility of additional dosed low power ultrasonic. Material and Methods. The system for aspiration of cortex with the possibility of additional dosed low power ultrasonic consists of a specially designed ultrasonic instrument with a 21G tip and irrigation instrument with a 21G tip. Remote infrared thermometry (thermal imager Testo 882, Germany) was performed. In experiments a pig eyes were used (n=10). The eye was fixed in a titanium eye-holder, the tip of the ultrasonic instrument was inserted up through a 1.1 mm paracentesis on the meridian for 9 hours, the irrigation tip on the meridian for 3 hours. The initial temperature was recorded after irrigation and aspiration activation. Then ultrasound was activated (power 30%, activation time 10 s) and the final temperature was recorded. The rise in temperature was estimated as the difference between the final and initial temperatures. The software Testo IRSoft version 4.3 was used to process the images. Results. The average temperature rise in all experiment was 5.1±1.4°C. The maximum recorded temperature in the experiments were 33.5°C. Conclusion. Critical level of temperature for corneal burns was not reached in all of experiments. Conducted thermometric studies allow to conclude that the developed system for aspiration of lens cortex with the possibility of additional dosed low power ultrasonic is thermally safe.