Interpretation of the Seidel test for open eye injury: Experimental study

Abstract

AIM: The study aimed to examine the phenomenon of fluorescence during the Seidel test on an experimental model of open eye injury (OEI). MATERIAL AND METHODS: The experimental study used cadaver pig eyes and was conducted in the Wetlab educational laboratory of the St. Petersburg branch of the S.N. Fedorov National Medical Research Center Interbranch Scientific and Technical Complex “Eye Microsurgery”. After creating a perforated hole, the cornea was stained with fluorescein and observed under a cobalt-blue slit-lamp light. After the test strips were removed, the experiment was timed. RESULTS: The fluorescence phenomenon was noted immediately after applying the stain to the ocular surface of cadaver eyes with OEI. Fluorescein was dissolved in the flowing intraocular fluid (IOF) and was restrained at the wound edges. Then, the color of the flowing IOF changed. In the experiment, two phases of the flowing IOF color were registered, that is, up to 2.95 s, a bright-green fluid flow was noted. After 2.95 s, the stain washed out, and the main stream of liquid was divided into several streams with varying degrees of staining intensity. At 4.12 s, a transparent stream of escaping liquid was noted in the center and green streams along the edges. CONCLUSION: The Seidel test consists of two successive phases, namely, the initial appearance of a “bright-green stream” of IOF flowing through the corneal wound, lasting no more than 3 s after the administration of fluorescein; and during phase 2, in the flow center, the fluid became transparent, and bright-green staining remained at the edges. The Seidel test should be performed in compliance with all conditions that ensure the manifestations of fluorescence, always using a cobalt slit-lamp filter, and the result should be evaluated considering the sequence of its phases.