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2019 OMIG Abstract

Rose Bengal Photodynamic Antimicrobial Therapy Safety Study. Pilot study

Jaime D. Martinez, MD^1,2, Esdras Arrieta, MD², Andrea Naranjo, MD^1,2, Pedro Monsalve, MD¹,
Alejandro Arboleda, MD², Heather Durkee, MS², Mariela C. Aguilar, PhD², Sander R. Dubovy, MD¹,
Harry W. Flynn Jr, MD¹, Darlene Miller, DHSc², Guillermo Amescua, MD^1,2,
Jean-Marie Parel, PhD, FARVO^1,2
1Anne Bates Leach Eye Center and ²Ophthalmic Biophysics Center, Bascom Palmer Eye Institute, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL

Methods: Twelve NZW rabbits were divided into four groups, each with three rabbits. Group 1: central 8 mm circle corneal de-epithelization (CDE), Group 2: CDE and 0.2% rose bengal drops (every 3 minutes for 30 minutes) over the cornea, Group 3: CDE and green light exposure (5.4 J/cm2) for 15 minutes, and Group 4: CDE and 0.1% of rose bengal over the cornea with green light exposure (5.4 J/cm²) for 15 minutes. They were clinically examined for 2 weeks group 1–3 , and group 4 for 6 weeks. Follow-ups included fluorescein staining and pachymetry testing. A subset of three NZW rabbits were treated with 0.1% RB-PDAT and followed for 36 days with anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT) using the fluorescence settings analysis. Histopathological analysis was performed in all eyes.

Results: Fluorescein staining showed that the epithelial defect healed on day three in Groups 1-4. There was a slight increase in central corneal thickness (CCT) measured on day seven, but no statistically significant difference compared to the pre-treatment CCT. Furthermore, no statistical difference in changes of the CCT measurements were observed, except in Group 4 where the mean pre-operative CCT was 329.3 ± 11.3 µm. After RB-PDAT in two NZW rabbits, the CCT increased at day three (mean change +26 ± 2.8 µm; P<0.05). However, we were unable to obtain CCT in one NZW rabbit from Group 4 on day 21 to day 35 due to <300 µm CCT (pre-operative CCT was 321 µm). In the subset of rabbits , AS-OCT showed evidence of a crosslinking demarcation line after seven days post-treatment in all NZW rabbits at a mean depth of 140.9 µm (+/- 6.93) and RB fluorescence remained evident in all treated eyes throughout the 36 days of follow-up. Histopathology analysis did not show any changes on the cornea, lens, iris, and retina tissue compare to control group.

Conclusion: RB-PDAT using 0.1% rose bengal with 5.4 J/cm² of green light exposure did not show adverse effect in corneal epithelial healing, endothelial dysfunction and histopathological results.

Disclosure: N:

Supported by Edward D. and Janet K. Robson Foundation, Florida Lions Eye Bank and the Beauty of Sight Foundation, Drs. KR Olsen, ME Hildebrandt, Raksha Urs and Aaron Furtado; NIH Center Grant P30EY14801, Research to Prevent Blindness, Henri and Flore Lesieur Foundation (JMP).

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