From the American Academy of Ophthalmology

Investigators retrospectively compared endothelial cell loss and graft survival in 206 Asians who underwent DSAEK or PK at a single center. Most subjects (141) had pseudophakic or aphakic bullous keratopathy (BK), while the remaining had Fuchs' endothelial dystrophy. Despite a consistently lower rate of EC loss in DSAEK compared with PK (39 percent vs. 47 percent at three years), graft survival was comparable between procedures. The authors cite two possible reasons: DSAEK was performed using a pull-through technique without folding of the donor tissue. Second, a majority of patients had BK, which is associated with higher EC loss after DSAEK. Ophthalmology, November 2012