Objective: To investigate the in vivo corneal changes in patients with bullous keratopathy who underwent Descemet's membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK) with the use of in vivo laser confocal microscopy.
Design: Single-center, retrospective clinical study.
Participants: Five eyes of 4 patients (3 men, 1 women; mean age, 61.3 ± 9.6 years) with bullous keratopathy who had undergone successful DMEK were enrolled in this study.
Testing: In vivo laser confocal microscopy was performed before and 1, 3, and 6 months after DMEK.
Main Outcome Measures: Selected confocal images of corneal layers were evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively for the degree of haze and the density of deposits. Subepithelial haze, donor-recipient interface haze, donor-recipient interface particles, and host stromal needle-shaped materials were graded on a scale of 4 categories (grade 0 = none, grade 1 = mild, grade 2 = moderate, grade 3 = severe) at each time point. Time trends of the outcomes were graphically displayed and evaluated with Mantel-Haenszel trend test.
Results: The following were observed preoperatively in all patients: slight corneal epithelial edema, moderate subepithelial haze, keratocytes in a honeycomb pattern, and tiny needle-shaped materials in the stroma. After DMEK, moderate subepithelial haze persisted during the follow-up period. Needle-shaped materials had a tendency to decrease after DMEK. Most notably, donor-recipient interface haze and donor-recipient interface particles were barely noticeable after DMEK as early as 1 month postoperatively.
Conclusions: In vivo laser confocal microscopy can identify subclinical corneal abnormalities after DMEK, such as subepithelial haze, host stromal needle-shaped materials, and minimum donor-recipient interface haze/particles. These abnormalities seemed subtle compared with Descemet stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty; this may explain the superior postoperative visual acuity after DMEK. Further studies with this technology in a large number of patients and long-term follow-up are needed to fully understand the long-term corneal changes after DMEK.
Financial Disclosure(s): The author(s) have no proprietary or commercial interest in any materials discussed in this article.
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