Clinical Features of Patients with Post-Traumatic Canalicular Laceration and the Effectiveness of Surgical Repair with Monoka Tube Intubation

Objectives: Evaluation of the clinical characteristics of patients with post-traumatic canalicular laceration and the results of surgical repair of these patients with Monoka (R) tube intubation. Materials and Met-hods: Medical records of 15 patients who underwent surgical repair with Monoka (R) tube implantation due to canalicular laceration in our clinic between 2009 and 2013 years were analyzed retrospectively. Patients were analyzed in terms of their demographic characteristics, leading cause of injury, accompanying ocular injuries along with anatomical and functional success. Results: The mean age was 25 (1-56) years. Twelve patients (80%) were males and 3 (20%) were female. Twelve (80%) eyes presented with lower canalicular laceration, 1 (6.7%) eye-with upper canalicular laceration, and 2 (13.3%) eyes had bicanalicular laceration. Five of injuries (33%) were due direct sharp objects and 10 of injuries (66%) occurred due to blunt trauma. Six of patients were operated under general anesthesia and 9 of patients were operated under local anesthesia. The mean time duration between canalicular injury and surgery was found to be 14 hours (4-39 hours). The mean duration of the tubes' residence time was 5.26 months (1-6 months). Patients were followed averagely 14 months (6-32 months) in the postoperative period. The open status of lavage was considered as anatomical success, and the absence of fluorescein dye pooling and epiphora was considered as functional success. Except for 1 patient with tube protrusion in the early postoperative first month, anatomical and functional success was achieved in 14 patients (93.3%) during the follow-up period. Conclusion: After traumatic canalicular lacerations, Monoka (R) tube intubation is an easily applicable and effective method with low risk of damage.