Construction of a novel microfluidic experimental setup for testing recent glaucoma drainage devices

Abstract

Glaucoma is an eye disorder in which the optic nerve is damaged over time due to a sustained elevation of the intraocular pressure (IOP). Being the second leading cause of blindness according to the reports of the World Health Organization, glaucoma is not only a serious ocular disease that threatens individuals, but also a community health problem. In recent years, great improvement has been achieved in the technology of implants used in the treatment of the disease. Despite the great effort dedicated to the design and implementation of the glaucoma drainage devices (GDD), they still have unsolved problems and weaknesses. Most of the currently employed GDDs are very simple and have major problems such as reversed flow, choking and a coarse interval of pressure control. Experiments must be devised to investigate the flow behavior inside these devices. In this study, an accurate microfluidics experimental setup is constructed to analyze and characterize the in-vitro performance of actively employed GDDs on the glaucoma treatment. Proposed setup includes a pressurized fluid reservoir, ELVEFLOW microfluidics flow rate measurement/control unit, microfluidics flow/pressure sensors, and data analysis system. In the setup, more precise measurements than experimental setups in literature is planned to be provided. It is estimated that the results showing consistency with in-vivo measurements will be obtained, behavior of the fluid passing through the GDDs will be observed and issues with design flaws will be addressed.

Keywords

• glaucoma
• glaucoma drainage device
• microfluidics
• in-vitro experimental setup