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Glaucoma a risk factor for endothelial cell loss after corneal transplant
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Preoperative glaucoma was a significant risk factor for increased endothelial cell loss after penetrating keratoplasty in a study in Germany.
Eckart Bertelmann, MD, and colleagues at Charité University School of Medicine in Berlin examined endothelial cell counts obtained every 6 months from 293 consecutive patients who underwent penetrating keratoplasty between 1996 and 2000.
The mean endothelial cell loss was 28.8% at 6 months, 39.8% at 12 months and 49% at 24 months, in comparison to the density of cells in the donor grafts, according to the study authors.
Neither donor age nor baseline cell density were significantly correlated with the progressive loss of endothelial cells. Patients diagnosed with keratoconus had the lowest cell loss rate, and patients with glaucoma before the transplant had a significantly higher rate of cell loss (P < .05), the authors said.
The study is published in the December issue of Acta Ophthalmologica Scandinavica.