The Influence Of Donor Lamella Thickness On Visual Acuity In Patients Who Underwent Descemet’S Stripping Automated Endothelial Keratoplasty Procedure
Published 2026 - 44th Congress of the ESCRS
Reference: POCOR257 | Type: Poster | DOI: 10.82333/1knt-5181
Authors: Dr Ana Meter Kuzman* 1 , Dr Andela Jukic 1 , Dr Ruzica Peric 1 , Dr Dina Lesin Gacina 2 , Dr Sania Vidas Pauk 2 , Dr Petra Kristina Ivkic 2 , Prof. Dr Josip Pavan 1 , Prof. Dr Tomislav Kuzman 3
1Department of Ophthalmology,University Hospital Dubrava Zagreb,Zagreb,Croatia, 2Department of Ophthalmology,University Hospital Center Zagreb,Zagreb,Croatia, 3Department of Ophthalmology,University Hospital Center Zagreb,Zagreb,Croatia;Department of Ophthalmology,School of Medicine, University of Zagreb,Zagreb,Croatia
Purpose
Conventional Descemet's Stripping Automated Endothelial Keratoplasty (DSAEK) is corneal transplantation procedure where the patient's inner dysfunctional layer is replaced with donor lamella. There are contradictory and not enough clear data in the literature about the correlation between lamellar thickness and the visual acuity.
Setting
Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospital Center Zagreb, Croatia.
Methods
Study included 55 eyes after conventional DSAEK defined as transplantation with donor lamellas thicker than 100 μm. Patients had no other comorbidities that could affect visual acuity. Data about lamellar thickness and visual acuity were measured 6 months after surgery with anterior segment optical coherent tomography (A-OCT).
Results
The results show that visual acuity before surgery was 0,15 (logMAR +0,82) on average and after surgery 0,57 (logMAR +0,25). Better visual acuity of 0,63 (logMAR +0,2) was achieved with lamellas thinner than 124 μm, while statistically significantly lower visual acuity was 0,51 (logMAR +0,29) for lamellas thicker than 124 μm.
Conclusions
According to our results the goal after conventional DSAEK is to have postoperative lamellas thinner than 124 μm in the eye, as this will result in better postoperative visual acuity. This value can be the optimal thickness for conventional DSAEK surgery that could minimize tissue loss for eye banks and the surgeons could have fewer problems during surgery, while obtaining good final visual acuity.