[Use of low-frequency ultrasound in preoperative care of the conjunctival cavity]

Experimental and clinical studies of the efficacy of preoperative treatment of the conjunctival cavity with low-frequency ultrasound were carried out. Ultrasound parameters employed were as follows: 20-70 kHz frequency, 25-35 microns oscillation amplitude, length of exposure 60-120 sec. Such treatment was found to reduce bacterial contamination of the conjunctival cavity. Clinical studies were carried out on 20 eyes of 14 patients operated on for cataracts and glaucomas at the department for ocular diseases of the Moscow municipal clinical hospital No. 15. Low-frequency ultrasound treatment of the conjunctival cavity was carried out before surgery in all these patients. In the reference patients (n = 15, 15 eyes) the conjunctival cavity was washed with 1:5000 furacilin solution and 30% sodium sulfacil solution or kanamycin solution (10,000 U in 1 ml) on the operation table. The bacterial contamination of the conjunctival cavity prior to surgery in 24 eyes has made up 84.1 bacterial colonies per Petri dish on an average. Preoperative treatment of the conjunctival cavity with low-frequency ultrasound has reduced the bacterial contamination to 6.3 colonies per Petri dish, i.e. by 13.3 times.