Issue: January 2015
October 21, 2014
1 min read
Save

DMEK yields fast visual recovery for endothelial dysfunction

Issue: January 2015
You've successfully added to your alerts. You will receive an email when new content is published.

Click Here to Manage Email Alerts

We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com.

CHICAGO — Six-year midterm results showed Descemet’s membrane endothelial keratoplasty for the treatment of endothelial dysfunction provides fast and potentially complete visual recovery, a speaker said here.

Perspective from Parag A. Majmudar, MD

“With our cohort, visual acuity improvements were quite impressive, and by 6 months, more than 95% of patients achieved 20/40 vision,” Fook Chang Lam, MBChB, MRCP, FRCOphth, said at the American Academy of Ophthalmology meeting.

Fook Chang Lam

Fook Chang Lam

Descemet’s membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK) was performed in 300 eyes for the treatment of endothelial dysfunction and was successful in 86% of eyes; 41 eyes required re-transplantation. Graft failure occurred in eight eyes, and detachment occurred in 33 eyes.

“Although some of these patients cleared in the short term without any bubbling procedures, in the longer term, some of these patients subsequently needed a re-transplant,” Lam said.

Complications included air bubble dislocation, steroid induced ocular hypertension and secondary glaucoma.

“Several patients had intraocular problems, but only 1.3% developed secondary glaucoma,” Lam said.

According to Lam, endothelial cell density decreased at a steady rate after the first 6 months, and complications were rare after the first 6 months.

Disclosure: Lam has no relevant financial disclosures.