Endothelial keratoplasty for Fuchs dystrophy

Abstract

We report the case of a 69-year-old female with Fuchs endothelial dystrophy and posterior chamber in-the-bag intraocular lens, whom we treated with DMEK surgical technique. We encountered difficulties both during obtaining the endothelium from the young donor and during the intraocular unrolling and its application on the stroma. We evaluated both preoperative and postoperative the following parameters: visual acuity, slit lamp, and optical coherence tomography appearance of the cornea, corneal thickness, intraocular pressure, endothelial cell density. In all postoperative assessments, the endothelium was attached to the host's stroma, with small peripheral, inferior folding area. Short-term results were favorable with a clear cornea and significant improvement in visual acuity obtained in the first 3 months of postoperative follow-up. Abbreviation: BCVA = best-corrected visual acuity, RE = right eye, LE = left eye, OCT = optical coherence tomography, DMEK = Descemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty.