Nanomechanical mapping helps explain differences in outcomes of eye microsurgery: A comparative study of macular pathologies

Many ocular diseases are associated with an alteration of the mechanical and the material properties of the eye. These mechanically-related diseases include macular hole and pucker, two ocular conditions due to the presence of abnormal physical tractions acting on the retina. A complete relief of th...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2019-08, Vol.14 (8), p.e0220571-e0220571
Main Authors: Ciasca, Gabriele, Pagliei, Valeria, Minelli, Eleonora, Palermo, Francesca, Nardini, Matteo, Pastore, Valentina, Papi, Massimiliano, Caporossi, Aldo, De Spirito, Marco, Minnella, Angelo Maria
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Applied physics
Biology and Life Sciences
Biomechanical Phenomena
Biomechanics
Brain cancer
Care and treatment
Cell adhesion & migration
Colorectal cancer
Comparative analysis
Comparative literature
Comparative studies
Epiretinal Membrane
Eye
Eye diseases
Eye surgery
Female
Homeostasis
Humans
Legal medicine
Male
Mapping
Material properties
Mechanical analysis
Mechanical properties
Medical research
Medicine and Health Sciences
Membranes
Microscopy
Microsurgery
Microsurgery - standards
Middle Aged
Morphology
Novels
Ophthalmologic Surgical Procedures - methods
Patient outcomes
Physical Sciences
Research and Analysis Methods
Retina
Retina - surgery
Retinal Perforations - surgery
Surgery
Treatment Outcome
Viscoelasticity
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Summary:Many ocular diseases are associated with an alteration of the mechanical and the material properties of the eye. These mechanically-related diseases include macular hole and pucker, two ocular conditions due to the presence of abnormal physical tractions acting on the retina. A complete relief of these tractions can be obtained through a challenging microsurgical procedure, which requires the mechanical peeling of the internal limiting membrane of the retina (ILM). In this paper, we provide the first comparative study of the nanoscale morphological and mechanical properties of the ILM in macular hole and macular pucker. Our nanoscale elastic measurements unveil a different bio-mechanical response of the ILM in the two pathologies, which correlates well to significant differences occurring during microsurgery. The results here presented pave the way to the development of novel dedicated microsurgical protocols based on the material ILM properties in macular hole or pucker. Moreover, they contribute to clarify why, despite a common aetiology, a patient might develop one disease or the other, an issue which is still debated in literature.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0220571