The surgical repair of the cornea of the dog using pericardium as a keratoprosthesis

Abstract

Significant advances in corneal repair have been made in the past. Tissue graft has been used to repair full-thickness defects of the cornea and sclera. Equine pericardium preserved in glycerol was used to repair full-thickness corneal lesions after limbal melanoma excision and corneal wound with iris prolapse. A six-year old male, German Shepherd, with 1 cm of diameter, dark-pigmented mass at the temporal limbus of the right eye, with two months of evolution, and a four month old female mixed breed dog, with a corneal wound and iris prolapse, in the left eye, secondary to a cat scratch 5 days earlier. In both cases a piece of pericardium was sutured close to the corneal defects. An antibiotic ointment and atropine 1% eye drops were used. The intraocular pressure was low in the following days, but arose to normal values. All other structures were normal. A granulation tissue initially grew near the patch, and the opacity of the pericardium remained. Dexamethasone eye drops and ointment were used, and the granulation tissue disappeared two months after surgery. Eighteen months follow-up showed the eyes in good condition, although opaqueness was still present.