A Comparison of the Corneal Thickness Following Descemet’s Stripping Automated Endothelial Keratoplasty and Descemet’s Membrane Endothelial Keratoplasty

Abstract

Purpose To compare the central corneal thickness before and after Descemet’s stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty (DSAEK) and Descemet’s membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK), and to evaluate the recipient corneal thickness following DSAEK. Methods The corneal thickness was compared between two groups of eyes following DMEK and DSAEK, performed by a single surgeon between 2015 and 2017. We evaluated the recipient corneal thickness and central corneal thickness pre- and postoperatively at 1, 3, and 6 months using anterior segment optical coherence tomography. Recipient corneal thickness was defined as the corneal thickness without graft thickness. Results We included DMEK and DSAEK eyes (n = 26 each), which were similar in terms of their etiologies. Preoperatively, there was no significant difference in the central corneal thickness between the groups (DSAEK, median [interquartile range]: 721 [606.5 to 847.8] µm; and DMEK: 690 [618 to 722.3] µm; p = 0.30). Despite the tendency of the central corneal thickness to be significantly greater (p < .01) at 6 months following DSAEK (619.5 [607.8 to 661.3] µm) compared with that following DMEK (497.5 [475.8 to 525.3] µm), there was no significant difference at 6 months between the recipient corneal thickness following DSAEK (488.5 [443.8 to 515] µm) and central corneal thickness following DMEK (p = 0.54). Conclusions DSAEK eyes display a similar tendency of stromal thinning as DMEK eyes.