Promotion of graft survival by photothrombotic occlusion of corneal neovascularization.

Corneal neovascularization may reduce the success of penetrating keratoplasty. Photothrombosis using intravenous rose bengal and argon laser irradiation has shown promise for occluding corneal vessels. It is therefore conceivable that photothrombosis can improve the graft survival in vascularized corneas. Using intracorneal 7-0 silk sutures as the stimuli, corneal neovascularization was induced in 1 eye each of 19 New Zealand white rabbits. Eleven eyes received photothrombosis. Successful occlusion with subsequent regression was verified by corneal fluorescein angiography. Three were assigned for observation. Six of 8 eyes receiving grafts from an outbred rabbit donor after photothrombosis remained clear during 6.5 to 18.5 weeks of follow-up, while vascularization and opacity occurred in 7 of 8 control eyes without photothrombosis. These results indicate that prior photothrombotic occlusion of corneal vessels can significantly improve graft survival in this experimental model and may have clinical applications.