Abstract

Background: Anterior vitreous incarceration is a condition in which vitreous prolapses into the anterior chamber and passes through a microscopic wound at an incisional site. The condition can be identified as a vitreous strand leading to the wound site during slit lamp examination. If the vitreous strand penetrates through all the corneal layers on to the extraocular surface it becomes vitreous wick syndrome. Anterior segment imaging with spectral-domain optical coherence tomography of the iridocorneal angle can provide high definition scans to confirm vitreous incarceration and rule out vitreous wicking. It is important to appropriately diagnose this condition to prevent vision threatening complications.
Case report: A case of anterior vitreous incarceration is presented secondary to phacoemulsification cataract extraction. Anterior segment spectral-domain optical coherence tomography scans were obtained to visualize the vitreous strand extending into the cornea but not to the extraocular surface.
Conclusion:This case demonstrates the application of spectral-domain OCT in visualization of anterior vitreous incarceration secondary to phacoemulsification cataract extraction.

Keywords: Vitreous incarceration; Vitreous prolapse; Vitreous wick syndrome; Pupillary block; Cataract extraction; Phacoemulsification