Research in Focus: new surgical device for retinal detachment

In a collaboration between researchers from the University's Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences and the Centre for Eye Research Australia, a new surgical device for repairing retinal detachment has been validated in an animal model.

Histology sections of rabbit retina following surgical repair "This project involved a collaboration between the Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences, (The University of Melbourne) and the Centre for Eye Research Australia (CERA) to develop a new surgical device called Retinal Thermofusion (RTF) that was validated in a rabbit retinal detachment model. Rabbit eyecups were processed by the Melbourne Histology Platform to give retina cross-sections stained with H&E.  As shown above, this allowed us to distinguish between regions of normal retina (B), transition between repaired and detached retina (D) and within repaired retinal hole (C). The cross-sections provided us with histopathological evidence of successful retinal reattachment post surgery as indicated by fusion of the RPE to the choroid tissue (C)."

Anh Hoang (Research Assistant) and Bang Bui (Associate Professor)
Department of Optometry and Vision Sciences, University of Melbourne

See the journal article here: 
Wilson J. Heriot, Andrew B. Metha, Zheng He, Jeremiah K.H. Lim, Anh Hoang, Tomoharu Nishimura, Mali Okada, Bang V. Bui, 2022. Optimizing retinal thermofusion in retinal detachment repair: achieving instant adhesion without air tamponade. Ophthalmology Science 100179. doi: 10.1016/j.xops.2022.100179