Development and ex-vivo validation of 36G polyimide cannulas integrating a guiding miniaturized OCT probe for robotic assisted subretinal injections

We introduced and validated a method to encase guiding optical coherence tomography (OCT) probes into clinically relevant 36G polyimide subretinal injection (SI) cannulas. Modified SI cannulas presented consistent flow capacity and tolerated the typical mechanical stress encountered in clinical use without significant loss of sensitivity. We also developed an approach that uses a micromanipulator, modified SI cannulas, and an intuitive graphical user interface to enable precise SI. We tested the system using ex-vivo porcine eyes and we found a high SI success ratio 95.0% (95% CI: 83.1-99.4). We also found that 75% of the injected volume ends up at the subretinal space. Finally, we showed that this approach can be applied to transform commercial 400 SI cannulas to guided cannulas. The modified cannulas and guiding approach can enable precise and reproducible SI of novel gene and cell therapies targeting retinal diseases. (C) 2022 Optica Publishing Group under the terms of the Optica Open Access Publishing Agreement

Automated summary

A method to encase OCT probes into polyimide subretinal injection cannulas was introduced and validated. The system achieved a high success rate of 95.0% for subretinal injection, with a significant portion of the injected volume reaching the subretinal space.