Cyanoacrylate adhesive use in primary operation and reoperation in rabbit eye muscle surgery

To compare the performance of 2-octyl-cyanoacrylate to 6-0 polyglactin 910 suture in rabbit superior rectus muscle surgery after operation and reoperation procedures.

A prospective noninferiority trial was conducted in rabbits. Bilateral superior rectus muscle recessions were performed using cyanoacrylate in one eye and polyglactin suture in the other. At 5 weeks, reoperations to advance the superior rectus muscle were performed on 20 rabbits. Slippage, tensile strength, ease of reoperation, operative time, and inflammatory reaction were recorded. For the primary outcomes, the predetermined margin of noninferiority was 1 mm for slippage and 100 g for tensile strength.

In both groups, the proportion of slippage > or =1 mm from the recession site was 1.9%. For the reoperation, it was 36.8% and 15.7% in the suture and cyanoacrylate groups, respectively, and the mean slippage was 0.60 mm and 0.42 mm. Mean tensile strength was 842.8 g for suture and 777.2 g for cyanoacrylate after the first operation and 877.73 g and 844.87 g after the reoperation. There was no difference between groups for surgical difficulty or inflammatory index. For the first operation, surgery using cyanoacrylate was on average 3.85 min faster than suture.

Cyanoacrylate can achieve an adequate muscle-sclera bond in the immediate period after surgery to avoid major slippage and does not affect the long-term process of wound healing for both recession and advancement procedures. It is well tolerated and does not add technical difficulty even if used for reoperations. Because it eliminates the risk of globe perforation, cyanoacrylate may be a good alternative to sutures in strabismus surgery.