Synthetic Endothelial Substitute During And After Life: A Case Report

To report the morphologic and pathologic changes observed 7 months after corneal endothelial synthetic substitute in a case of chronic endothelial dysfunction, the first human cadaveric corneal sample analysis.

A case report from a postmortem corneal sample retrieved seven months post endothelial keratoprosthesis

A 68 YO female, a participant of first in human Phase-2 clinical safety evaluation of corneal endothelial prosthesis expired seven months post-surgery due to cardio-respiratory illnesses. The corneoscleral button was excised with due consent from her family and was analyzed under a microscope for the morphology & integrity of the implant in addition to histopathological examination after making paraffin blocks. The Endothelial device was well adherent to the underlying corneal stroma and was inseparable easily. Microscopically, the tissues were embedded completely showing the sclera, cornea, and the synthetic device adhered to the cornea. There was focal epithelialization of the artificial implant with fibrosis along the edges of the implant.

The epithelialization and fibrosis along the edges of the synthetic endothelial substitute could be the reason for good retention of the implant with the cornea, and absent device detachment rates, months after endothelial keratoprosthesis.