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To the Editor.—I would like to present an idea for the development of an intravitreal and transvitreal retinal coagulation procedure. My concept is to carry argon laser energy into the globe of the eye through a very fine, glass fiber lens, for delivery directly to the retina and/or neovascular tissue, principally in the vitreous compartment of the eye.
The following instances are situations in which this procedure could conceivably be used: (1) Direct photocoagulation of the retina could be carried out around the posterior retinal breaks that are commonly discovered during a closed vitrectomy procedure. (2) Direct, but noncontact, coagulation of forward vessels in the vitreous compartment could be performed during a closed vitrectomy procedure. At this time, it is not possible to safely coagulate forward vessels with existing cautery probes because of the inevitable adhesion of the coagulum to the probe. Disengagement of the probe from the site