Eye Protection in Liver Transplantation Patients Under General Anesthesia

Opsite (Smith & Nephew, Hull, UK) is widely used in wound care but its use in eye protection against corneal abrasion during major surgery is rarely reported. The purpose of the current study is to compare the effectiveness of using Opsite in eye protection with either wet gauze alone or with wet gauze following application of eye ointment in patients undergoing living donor liver transplantation (LDLT).

This is a prospective, double-blinded, randomized controlled trial. Forty-one patients undergoing liver transplantation were enrolled. One eye of each patient was protected with sterile gauze soaked with normal saline solution and covered with Opsite. Duratears (ALCON, Fort Worth, Tex, United States) ointment was applied to the other eye before covering it with sterile wet gauze and Opsite (ointment group). The corneal examination was carried out after fluorescein staining before and at the end of surgery by the same doctor. A Student t-test and a χ² test were used for the statistical analyses.

Forty-one patients with 82 eyes were observed in this study. No corneal epithelial defects were found in either the normal saline group or the ointment group.

Opsite combined with wet gauze with or without additional eye ointment provided 100% protection against corneal abrasion in patients undergoing LDLT.