Relationship Between Donor Graft Cell Count and Visual Outcome in DSAEK Patients Authors Silvin Bakalian MD PhD, Johanna Choremis MD FRCSC, Michele Mabon MD FRCSC The authors have no financial interests to disclose

 Descemet stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty (DSAEK) has become the preferred surgical treatment of choice for corneal endothelial disorders including Fuch’s endothelial dystrophy (FED) and pseudophakic bullous keratopathy (PBK)(1)  Studies showed that there is a gradual improvement of visual acuity over time after DSAEK surgery for patients with FED and PBK(2-3)  A study performed by Terry reported no correlation between pre- operative endothelial cell counts and postoperative complications(4) Introduction

 The aim of this study is to determine if there is any correlation between donor graft endothelial cell counts (ECCs) and postoperative visual outcome for FED and PBK patients, who underwent DSAEK surgery  In addition, to evaluate if there is any effect on graft dislocation and survival rate Purpose

 Retrospective interventional case series from a tertiary referral surgical center  A total of 68 consecutive eyes that underwent a DSAEK surgery with a follow up of one year were included in the study  Two different surgeons using the same technique participated in the study  The patients were divided into three different groups based on their donor graft ECCs Materials & Methods

 Group one was comprised from patients who received donor grafts with cell count less than 2500 cells  Group two was comprised from patients who received donor grafts with cell count that varied between cells  Group three was comprised from patients who received donor grafts with cell count more than 3000 cells Materials & Methods

 The visual acuity (VA) was evaluated in all patients preoperatively, at 3, 6 and 12 months postoperatively  Clinical data including, donor age, recipient age, gender, eye, clinical diagnosis, incision size were recorded  In addition, intraoperative and postoperative complications were noted  The relationship between donor graft ECCs and visual acuity was assessed between the groups of patients Materials & Methods

Number of casesGroup 1 17 cases Group 2 39 cases Group 3 12 cases Number of patients Mean age of recipient Mean age of graft donor Mean endothelial cell count of graft donor Rebubbing0%2 (5.13 %)0% Graft survival100% Results Clinicopathological data

Visual Acquity (VA) Log MAR Group 1 <2500 cells Group Group 3 >3000 cells Preoperative VA0,480,520,6 Postoperative VA at 3 months 0,290,300,32 Postoperative VA at 6 months 0,290,280,34 Postoperative VA at 1 year 0,220,270,22 Results The mean visual acuity for all groups of patients

 Our results showed that there was statistically significant improvement in visual acuity after DSAEK for all groups of patients  This was in concordance with other studies (2-3)  In addition, our results demonstrated that there was no statistically significant differences in visual acuity at different time periods between the different groups of patients with different donor ECCs  Our results also showed that grafts with acceptable ECCs did not affect the postoperative complication rates Discussion

 Our results suggest that donor graft with different acceptable endothelial cell counts did not affect the visual outcome of Descemet striping automated endothelial keratoplasty patients at different intervals up to one year postoperatively  Further studies with longer follow ups and postoperative cell counts are warranted to elucidate if there is a correlation between donor graft endothelial cell counts and visual outcome Conclusion

1.Price MO, Price FW. Descemet's stripping endothelial keratoplasty. Curr Opin Ophthalmol. 2007;18(4):290– Li JY, Terry MA, Goshe J, et al. Three-year visual acuity outcomes after Descemet's stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty. Ophthalmology Jun;119(6): Phillips PM, Phillips LJ, Much JW, et al. Descemet stripping endothelial keratoplasty: six-month results of the first 100 consecutive surgeries performed solo by a surgeon using 1 technique with 100% follow-up. Cornea Dec;31(12): Terry MA, Shamie N, Chen ES, et al. Endothelial keratoplasty: the influence of preoperative donor endothelial cell densities on dislocation, primary graft failure, and 1-year cell counts. Cornea. 2008;27:1131–1137. References