Technology needs for corneal transplant surgery

Abstract

Corneal transplant surgery has undergone numerous modifications over the years with improvements in technique, instrumentation and eye banking. The main goals of corneal transplantation are achieving excellent optical clarity with long-term graft survival. Penetrating, anterior and posterior lamellar surgery along with femtosecond laser technology have partially met these goals, but outcomes are often unpredictable and surgeon dependent. Technology to predictably separate stroma from Descemet's membrane, techniques to minimize endothelial cell loss, improvements in imaging technology and emerging techniques like laser welding that might replace suturing, eventually making corneal transplantation a refractively predictable procedure are on the wish list of the cornea surgeon. © 2011 Copyright Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE).