In Sweden,A new technique for donor insertion in cases of Descemet’s stripping endothelial keratoplasty can reduce the amount of endothelial damage caused by the folding and compression in standard techniques, according to one ophthalmologist.
Donald Tan, MD, described for attendees of the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons meeting studies and his colleagues at the Singapore National Eye Center to develop what he called the “glide insertion” technique in which the donor tissue is protected by viscoelastic and placed on a modified IOL sheet glide without folding.
“This technique is a variation on the ‘pull through’ technique,” Dr. Tan explained. “We use an IOL sheet glide to insert the donor tissue in order to prevent iris prolapse.”
Dr. Tan said he successfully performed the technique in five patients with good clinical outcomes and no complications associated with donor insertion.
Mean follow up was 4 months ranging from 1 to 16 months. According to Dr. Tan, 64% of the patients reached 20/40 and slightly less than half achieved visual acuity of 20/30.
Dr. Tan noted that this procedure was particularly useful in Asian eyes which tend to be smaller and pose difficulties when unfolding the donor tissue.”Taco folding is unacceptable in Asian eyes,” he said.
