An iodine-125 applicator designed for irradiating blood vessels growing into the cornea of the eye.

The invasion of the traumatized cornea by blood vessels is a well known complication and is often associated with graft rejection. Graft acceptance may be improved by the induction of endarteritis with β radiation but the corneal stroma may be so changed by the necessary dose of radiation (commonly 4500–5000 cGy in three or four fractions) as to significantly increase the risk of sloughing (Macfaul & Bedford, 1970). To overcome this problem, we have designed and made an 125I eye applicator to produce an extremely narrow radiation field for treating the vascularization at the base of the cornea only. The anterior part of the cornea receives a very small dose of about 11% of that given to the base and is sufficiently large to receive a 6 mm corneal transplant. The use of 125I seeds in gold applicators for treating malignant conditions of the eye has been well documented (Sealy et al, 1980). Our applicator is designed to achieve a field width of 0.4 mm at the base of the cornea. Seeds were positioned in a go...