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Study: DMEK has 15 times lower rejection rate than DSEK
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ORLANDO, Fla. — DMEK has a notably low 2-year rejection rate when compared with DSEK and PK, a researcher said here.
Marianne Price, PhD, told Ocular Surgery News that her center looked at 150 prospectively collected, consecutive Descemet's membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK) eyes and compared them with 598 Descemet's membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DSEK) eyes and 30 penetrating keratoplasty (PK) eyes, data she presented at the Cornea Society/Eye Bank Association of America Fall Educational Symposium that had preceded the American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting.
Dr. Price also noted that all three groups had similar patient demographics such as age, race, sex and occurrence of Fuchs' dystrophy, and all procedures were completed at the same location.
She said that all eyes used the same rejection criteria and corticosteroid regimen: prednisolone acetate 1% 4 times per day for 4 months, 3 times per day for 1 month, 2 times per day for 1 month and then once a day thereafter indefinitely.
The rate of rejection episodes was less than 1% at 2 years with DMEK, 12% with DSEK and 18% with PK, she said.
The report suggests that long-term graft survival may improve, resulting in a positive effect on eye banks and tissue availability, Dr. Price said. Furthermore, the data may foster a shift in how much postoperative corticosteroids are needed, possibly reducing the side effects of corticosteroids as a result.
Reference: Anshu A, Price MO, Price FW. Risk of corneal transplant rejection significantly reduced with DMEK. Ophthalmology, in press.
- Disclosure: Dr. Price has no relevant financial disclosures.