Cyanoacrylate glue: An emerging alternative for sealing of corneal perforation

Abstract

Maintaining corneal wound integrity is an important goal in corneal perforations resulting from either traumatic or non- traumatic etiology. Tissue adhesives (TA’s) are group of synthetic or naturally occurring compounds, which helps in wound reconstruction and have emerged as alternatives to conventional sutures. Our study aims to evaluate the efficacy N- butyl cyanoacrylate TA in corneal perforations following infectious keratitis by assessment of its morphological and functional outcome. A prospective observational study conducted over a period of 6 months on 42 eyes of 42 patients with perforated corneal ulcer, fulfilling the inclusion criteria, presenting to our outpatient department. A standard technique was used to apply TA to the site of perforation under topical anaesthesia in all patients and they were followed-up for a period of 6 weeks. Data analysis was done using SPSS software (Version 22) and P value calculated by Pearson Chi-square test (Fisher exact test). P- value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Morphological outcome in this study showed statistically significant relationship with causative organism and size of the perforations (p<0.05). The functional outcome showed statistically significant relationship with location of perforation, duration of symptoms and duration of stay of glue (p<0.05). TA’s works well when the corneal perforation is <1.5 mm in diameter. The morphological outcome of TA depends upon etiology, size of perforations and complications significantly. Functional outcome of tissue adhesive shows significant association with location of perforation, duration of symptoms and stay of glue.