17. Autologous Blood for Visualization During ILM peeling
Colin A. McCannel (Rochester)
Objective: Internal limiting membrane peeling (ILM) is greatly facilitated by enhancing it’s
visualization. Indocyanine green dye (ICG) and triamcinolone acetonide (TA) crystals have been
used for this purpose, but controversy persists regarding possible toxicity and effect on macular
hole closure rates, respectively.
Design: This presentation describes a technique for peeling ILM using autologous blood for
visualization.
Results: Autologous blood is successful in enhancing ILM visualization during macular hole
surgery. High flow rates in the eye disturb the blood coating and reduce posterior pole visualization.
Conclusions: ILM visualization can be facilitated by using autologous blood to improve it’s
visualization, and thus provides an alternative to ICG and TA. Vitrectomy conditions must be controlled for this technique to
be successful.