Improved brilliant blue G staining of the internal limiting membrane with sharp cut filters of a novel viewing filter system
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Updated: May 8, 2026

Techniques for Processing Eyes Implanted With a Retinal Prosthesis for Localized Histopathological Analysis
Published on: August 2, 2013
Hiroshi Enaida1, Shigeo Yoshida, Shintaro Nakao
1Department of Ophthalmology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
Purpose:
We developed a new artificial image enhancement system aimed at intraoperative visibility improvement as a clinical prototype. We examined each optical characteristic and change in intraoperative visibility using brilliant blue G (BBG) staining with various sharp cut filters (SCFs).
Method:
This was a retrospective and observational study. The system was composed of several filters attached to the operating microscope. Six eyes from 6 patients who presented with macular hole and underwent surgery using this system were studied. As a clinical examination, the intraoperative visibility of BBG staining intensities was compared for 4 kinds of SCFs during vitrectomy. Quantitative evaluation was calculated using the International Commission on Illumination 1976 (L*, a*, b*) color space (CIELAB) method. Furthermore, we evaluated each optical characteristic of 4 types of SCFs using extracted porcine eyes and a spectroradiometer as a clinical simulation.
Results:
Suitable filter selection was possible for this system. The observed color tone and spectral irradiance changes with SCF insertion changed dynamically. In macular hole cases, the color intensities between BBG-stained and nonstained areas were improved using SCF-455 and SCF-520, which was statistically significant (p < 0.05) by CIELAB.
Conclusion:
The system improved BBG staining intensity with the use of selective SCFs.

