Descemet stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty in Fuchs′ endothelial dystrophy versus pseudophakic bullous keratopathy

Purpose: to compare clinical and confocal scan outcomes after descemet stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty (dsaek) performed for fuchs′ endothelial dystrophy (fed) versus pseudophakic bullous keratopathy (pbk). methods: this retrospective comparative study included 47 consecutive eyes of 39 patients with the diagnosis of fed (n = 29,group 1) or pbk (n = 18,group 2) that underwent dsaek. clinical outcomes were compared between the study groups. at the final follow-up examination,confocal microscopy was used to measure and compare central corneal and graft thickness as well as endothelial cell density and morphology between the two groups. results: mean age at the time of surgery was 65.2 ± 11.8 and 69.4 ± 12.5 years in groups 1 and 2,respectively (p = 0.27). follow-up period was 23.6 ± 14.0 months in group 1 and 25.6 ± 15.7 months in group 2 (p = 0.79). postoperative best spectacle-corrected visual acuity was significantly better in group 1 than in group 2 until postoperative month 6. afterwards,the two study groups were comparable in this regard. at the final follow-up examination,spherical equivalent refractive error was + 0.39 ± 1.46 diopters (d) in group 1 and + 0.80 ± 1.47 d in group 2 (p = 0.45). postoperative keratometric astigmatism was 1.02 ± 0.83 d and 2.36 ± 0.67 d,respectively (p < 0.001). mean central graft thickness was 98.0 ± 33.3 μm in group 1 and 107.6 ± 28.0 μm in group 2 (p = 0.45). no statistically significant difference was observed between the two groups in terms of the postoperative endothelial cell density. conclusion: the outcomes of dsaek surgery were comparable between fed and pbk. all grafts were clear despite the lower than normal endothelial cell counts. © 2016 journal of ophthalmic and vision research.