Provoked iris ischaemia in the rabbit. I. Clinical and histopathological examinations.

Various surgical procedures were performed on albino rabbits, which impaired anterior segment blood circulation. Our early and late clinical observations showed a consequent development of anterior-segment ischaemia into anterior-segment necrosis. The significance of different surgical procedures for resulting complications is discussed. Histopathological observations showed ischaemic changes in the anterior segment: iris and ciliary body atrophy, cataract formation, rubeosis iridis. Even though changes in the anterior segment were not observed on biomicroscopic examination in the cases with ligation of one LPCA, histological studies revealed different degrees of sectoral iris atrophy with minor rubeosis.