Clinical Outcomes of Small-incision Lenticule Extraction (SMILE) Using Vector Planning Method.

Summary

In the past two decades, the femtosecond laser (FSL) technology has been introduced in the corneal refractive surgery filed, and brought a remarkable innovation. It can make tissue dissection through photodisruption and plasma cavitation. Initially, the FSL was used predominantly to make a corneal flap when performing laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK), which is followed by stromal ablation using excimer laser. A new surgical technique called femtosecond lenticule extraction (FLEx) has been developed that uses only FSL to dissect two interfaces to create refractive lenticule and then remove it, which is very similar with LASIK. Small incision lenticule extraction (SMILE) which is the advanced form of all-in-one FSL refractive technique does not make a corneal flap rather make small incision where the separated refractive lenticule is removed through, and the upper part of the corneal tissue is called cap. Since the clinical outcomes of SMILE were firstly published in 2011, SMILE has been widely used for correction of myopia or myopic astigmatism worldwide. SMILE provides excellent visual outcomes and has advantages including a lesser decrease in corneal sensitivity and absence of flap related complications compared to LASIK.

The vector planning method is newly developed astigmatism correction method, which combines refraction astigmatism in 60 % emphasis and corneal astigmatism in 40 % emphasis. The vectorial difference between corneal astigmatism and refractive cylinder at the corneal plane is ocular residual astigmatism (ORA). In normal eyes treated for myopic astigmatism, the ORA typically ranges from 0.73 to 0.81 D. The eyes with high ORA resulted in inferior clinical outcomes after corneal refractive surgery including LASIK, LASEK, and SMILE. The vector planning method was effective in LASIK according to previous study. Therefore we try to confirm the efficacy of vector planning method in SMILE.

Conditions

• Myopic Astigmatism

Interventions

PROCEDURE

SMILE using manifest refraction planning

The treatments of astigmatism were planned using either the manifest refraction (manifest refraction group) or the vector planning method (vector planning group). The surgery was performed with standardized techniques with triple centration technique using the 500-KHz VisuMax system (Carl Zeiss Meditec AG, Jena, Germany). The superior cap depth was set as 120 µm, and the length of the side cut was set to 2 mm. Once the anterior (upper) and posterior (lower) planes of the lenticule were defined, the anterior and posterior interfaces were dissected using a microspatula with a blunt circular tip and extracted with microforceps. The integrity of the lenticule was assessed subsequently. The treatment plan for the vector planning group involved a combination of refractive astigmatism with 60 % emphasis and corneal astigmatism with 40 % emphasis.

PROCEDURE

SMILE using vector planning

The treatments of astigmatism were planned using either the manifest refraction (manifest refraction group) or the vector planning method (vector planning group). The surgery was performed with standardized techniques with triple centration technique using the 500-KHz VisuMax system (Carl Zeiss Meditec AG, Jena, Germany). The superior cap depth was set as 120 µm, and the length of the side cut was set to 2 mm. Once the anterior (upper) and posterior (lower) planes of the lenticule were defined, the anterior and posterior interfaces were dissected using a microspatula with a blunt circular tip and extracted with microforceps. The integrity of the lenticule was assessed subsequently. The treatment plan for the vector planning group involved a combination of refractive astigmatism with 60 % emphasis and corneal astigmatism with 40 % emphasis.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Yonsei University

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

20 Years

Max Age

45 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2018-08-16

Primary Completion

2019-05-07

Completion

2019-05-07

Countries

• South Korea

Study Locations