A cornea holding device for transplantation surgery using negative pressure

Cornea transplantation surgery needs a highly skilled ophthalmologist due to the requirement of precise positioning and the plasticity of a cornea. In this paper, we propose a cornea holding device, which fixes the relative position between a donor cornea and a patient cornea. The proposed device prevents the slipping or deformation of the corneas during transplantation surgery. The cornea holder has two sets of fluid channels, one for vacuuming donor cornea and the other for the patient cornea. We also constructed a compact fluid control system using a microcomputer, moreover, an on-off control is introduced for negative pressure and vacuum break control using high response solenoid valves. A preliminary experiment determines a proper negative pressure value without damaging the cornea. We conducted in-vitro experiments using a porcine eye and gathered several comments by an eye surgeon.