Ophthalmology Outcomes
Cornea Surgery
The Mass Eye and Ear Cornea Service is highly skilled at correcting a variety of corneal disorders that disrupt vision. When appropriate, our clinicians perform more advanced lamellar procedures instead of penetrating keratoplasties in order to limit scarring and improve graft results.
Learn more about the Cornea ServiceDistribution of Corneal Surgery
During the 2022 calendar year, the Cornea Service performed 290 keratoplasty/endothelial procedures. Of these, 91 (31.4%) were full-thickness, or penetrating keratoplasty (PK) surgeries, and 199 (68.6%) were partial-thickness, or lamellar keratoplasty surgeries. The subdivision of lamellar keratoplasty procedures was 124 Descemet’s membrane endothelial keratoplasties (DMEKs), 67 Descemet’s stripping endothelial keratoplasties (DSEKs), and 8 Descemet’s stripping only (DSO).1-3 The pie chart above includes all keratoplasty/endothelial procedures without exclusions. Descemet’s stripping only (DSO) surgery is an innovative technique that harnesses the patient’s own endothelial stem cells to repopulate the central cornea while avoiding the inherent risks of transplant surgery.
Final Visual Acuity
In the year 2022, 199 partial thickness, or lamellar, keratoplasty surgeries were performed. Of these 199 surgeries, the following were excluded: surgeries done in combination with retina or glaucoma, surgeries that were not a primary graft, and those that did not have a follow-up visit between 3-5 months post-surgery. This left 136 surgeries which were included in the following analysis.
Of the 136 surgeries, 112 (82.4%) had an improved visual acuity (VA) 3-5 months post-surgery when compared to their visual acuity a week prior to surgery.1 A further 15 cases (11.0%) had stable VA from prior to surgery. Only 9 cases (6.6%) had a worse VA when compared to their pre-surgery VA. Seven of the cases with a worse VA were due to glaucoma and 2 cases were due to graft failure.
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Distribution of Corneal Surgery
1. Basak SK. Descemet stripping and endothelial keratoplasty in endothelial dysfunctions: three-month results in 75 eyes. Indian J Ophthalmol 2008 56(4): 291-296.
2. Koenig SB, Covert DJ. Early results of small-incision Descemet’s stripping and automated endothelial keratoplasty. Ophthalmology 2007; 114(2): 221-226.
3. Price MO, Giebel AW, Fairchild KM, et al. Descemet’s membrane endothelial keratoplasty: prospective multicenter study of visual and refractive outcomes and endothelial survival. Ophthalmology 2009; 116(12): 2361-2368.
Final Visual Acuity
1. Vail A, Gore SM, Bradley BA, et al. Corneal graft survival and visual outcome. A multicenter study. Corneal transplant follow-up study collaborators. Ophthalmology 1994; 101(1): 120-127.
