Endothelial Cell

PARIS — At EuCornea 2019, Shigeru Kinoshita, MD, PhD, speaks about the results of corneal endothelial cell injection therapy, a field in which he has been working for more than 15 years. The key issue is quality of the cells, which should be well-differentiated, mature endothelial cells.

Shallower preoperative anterior chamber depth and aqueous depth were significantly correlated with more long-term endothelial cell loss in patients with iris-fixated phakic IOLs, according to a study.

Corneal transplantation has continued to improve over time and has reached significant heights in recent times with selective tissue transplantation, namely Descemet’s membrane endothelial keratoplasty. In patients with a cloudy cornea secondary to endothelial decompensation, DMEK offers selective replacement of the recipient Descemet’s membrane and its decompensated endothelium with a donor Descemet’s membrane and healthy endothelial cells. Such an advanced endothelial allotransplantation technique provides a near normal anatomic restoration of the recipient cornea along with markedly improved vision over a relatively short period of postoperative time. Early recovery of vision with DMEK results in satisfied patients who can return to their normal activities faster compared with other corneal transplantation techniques. DMEK and other forms of selective tissue corneal transplantation have continued to raise the bar for restoration of vision in cases of corneal blindness.