Fibrous Capsule Surrounding Silicone Encircling Band and Gore-Tex™ Surgical Membrane

Since the anterior chamber tube shunt to an encircling band(ACTSEB) is not a simple procedure, an extended polytetrafluoroethylene (e-PTFE)-silicone tube (anterior chamber tube shunt to a surgical membrane; ACTSSM) was attempted as a new glaucoma drainage implant. To see whether the newly-modified, two-fold ePTFE-silicone tube implant could prevent early hypotony and to compare the tissue response to each implant, ACTSEB and ACTSSM procedures were done in normal colored rabbit eyes. It was found the ACTSSM kept the depth of the postoperative anterior chamber normal. And in general, foreign body responses were light microscopically similar. The fibrous capsule lining the e-PTFE was composed of thicker, less dense fibroblasts, as well as less collagen than that lining the silicone encircling band. These findings seemed to be related to the difference in the pressure-lowering capacity between ACTSEB and ACTSSM.