Diseño de un sistema de drenaje activo para el tratamiento del glaucoma

Abstract

Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness worldwide only behind cataract. This condition is related to elevated intraocular pressure, caused in most cases by the malfunctioning of the eye drainage system. Among the conventional methods for the treatment of glaucoma are the use of eye drops, to decrease the intraocular pressure, and laser surgery to create artificial drainage channels. If these methods are not effective in the treatment of the patient, a drainage device is surgically implanted on the surface of the eyeball. These devices work under a passive activation principle, and in most cases they do not have good precision performing the drainage, causing complications such as post-operative hypotony. In that sense, this work focuses on the design of an active drainage system, which has greater precision with respect to the current devices and is capable of avoiding hypotony in the treatment of glaucoma. The active system must be small enough to be implanted within the eye, as well as precise at the drainage; Hence, technology based on Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS) is used in order to satisfy both requirements. The active system has a piezoresistive sensor, placed on the surface of the cornea, which constantly measures the internal pressure of the eye, and from these measurements it is decided, whether or not, to activate a piezoelectric valve that performs the drainage, placed in the intrascleral space of the eye. This work shows the simulation results of the active system using the computational model of the eye in the COMSOL Multiphysics software.

Date of Award	2022
Original language	Spanish (Peru)
Supervisor	Ruth Canahuire Cabello (Asesor)