Heat Generation and Efficiency of a New Modified Phaco Tip and Sleeve.

Purpose: To compare a modified phacoemulsification tip with the established micro tip, in terms of temperature at the corneal wound, efficiency, and chatter events, using the Centurion® Vision system.

Methods: Eighty porcine eyes were randomized into 4 groups: 1)sleeveless conventional 45D MiniFlared ABS® Kelman tip (1.1-mm incision); 2)sleeveless new modified 45D ABS® INTREPID® balanced tip(1.1-mm incision); 3) Kelman tip with own sleeve (2.2-mm incision); 4)Balanced tip with modified 4-rib sleeve (2.2-mm incision). Measurements were taken with 2 settings: longitudinal(power 40% and 70%) and torsional mode (power 40% and 100%). Peak temperatures were measured 0, 10, 30, and 60 seconds after continuous ultrasound power. For the efficiency test, porcine lens nuclei were formalin soaked and cut into 2.0 mm3 cubes. Efficiency and chatter were examined.

Results: In all longitudinal settings, the sleeveless groups(1 and 2) showed lower temperatures than the sleeved groups(3 and 4) (P = 0.003). In 100% torsional mode, groups 3 and 4 produced significantly different temperatures(37.13 ± 1.44 and 35.14 ± 0.54, respectively; P = 0.007).The efficiency, in a 100% power torsional setting, was13.52 ± 2.60 sec for group 4, and 44.45± 14.75 sec for group 3 (P<0.001).

Conclusions: The two different bare tips show no significant differences in thermogenesis. However, the balanced tip with sleeve produces lower temperaturesat100% torsional power and better efficiency than the Kelman tip.