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Graft survival and clinical outcomes of Descemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty: long-term results

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Abstract

Purpose

The aim is to report long-term graft survival rates and clinical outcomes of Descemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK).

Methods

In this study 150 eyes that underwent DMEK whether for Fuchs endothelial corneal dystrophy (FECD) or for bullous keratopathy (BK) surveilled for 7 years at 6 time points to evaluate graft survival rates and clinical outcomes of post-corneal transplantation.

Results

Overall, the estimated survival probability of 95% confidence interval at 7 years of post-DMEK was 0.58 (0.72–0.77), and the survival probabilities of eyes operated for FECD (0.53) were higher than eyes operated for BK (0.42) (log rank 26.87, [p = 0.197]). Post-transplant eyes with FECD achieved better visual acuity levels than eyes with BK (p = 0.006). Primary graft failure occurred in 11.3% eyes. Secondary graft failure rate was 9.3%, and allograft rejection rate was 4.7%.

Conclusion

Although DMEK is effective and safe in long term, visual results and graft survival rates are better in cases with FECD.

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Funding

No financial support was received.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ophthalmology, University of Health Sciences Turkey, Beyoglu Eye Training and Research Hospital, 34420, Istanbul, Turkey

    Nilay Kandemir Beşek, Gülay Yalçınkaya, Ahmet Kırgız, Semih Çakmak, Selim Genç, Şenay Aşık Nacaroğlu, Burçin Kepez Yıldız & Yusuf Yıldırım

  2. Department of Ophthalmology, Ataköy Dünya Eye Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey

    Alper Ağca

Authors
  1. Nilay Kandemir Beşek
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  2. Gülay Yalçınkaya
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  3. Ahmet Kırgız
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  4. Semih Çakmak
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  5. Selim Genç
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  6. Şenay Aşık Nacaroğlu
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  7. Burçin Kepez Yıldız
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  8. Yusuf Yıldırım
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  9. Alper Ağca
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Nilay Kandemir Besek, Gulay Yalcinkaya, and Semih Cakmak. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Nilay Kandemir Besek, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nilay Kandemir Beşek.

Ethics declarations

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest. There was no public or private financial support.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Ethical approval was received from the Local Ethics Committee of Okmeydani Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey.

Consent to participate

Written informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Consent for publication

Patients signed informed consent regarding publishing their data.

Data availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, upon reasonable request.

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Beşek, N.K., Yalçınkaya, G., Kırgız, A. et al. Graft survival and clinical outcomes of Descemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty: long-term results. Int Ophthalmol 42, 269–279 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-021-02078-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10792-021-02078-4

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