New Cornea Transplant Technique Provides Improved Vision, Faster Recovery

A new cornea transplant technique called DMEK provides significantly improved vision and faster recovery from surgery than standard cornea transplants.
On Saturday, July 27, Chicago-area ophthalmologists will learn about the technique in a hands-on demonstration.

Media are invited to cover the demonstration, which begins at 10:30 a.m. at Loyola's Stritch School of Medicine, 2160 S. First Ave., Maywood.

Fourteen ophthalmologists will practice the technique on cadaver eyes donated by the Illinois Eye Bank. It will be the first Chicago-area DMEK demonstration of its kind.

The DMEK instruction course is an example of how ophthalmologists from Loyola and other Chicago-area centers frequently collaborate on educational, research and other projects that will improve patient care, said Charles Bouchard, MD, chair of Loyola's Department of Ophthalmology.

The cornea is the clear outer lens on the front of the eye. In a cornea transplant, also called a keratoplasty, part of the defective cornea is replaced with corneal tissue from a deceased donor.

DMEK stands for Descemet Membrane Endothelial Keratoplasty. In a DMEK, only the innermost corneal layer (the Descemet membrane) is replaced, rather than the entire thickness of the cornea. This reduces the chance of a patient rejecting the donor cornea tissue because there is much less foreign donor material implanted into the patient. The procedure is best for patients who have problems only with the back layer of the cornea.

With the current standard of care of replacing the back layer of the cornea, patients are typically restored to a best corrected vision of 20/30 or 20/40. With DMEK, patients can typically obtain a vision of 20/20 or 20/25. They also recover from surgery more quickly, said Amy Lin, MD, a Loyola ophthalmologist and cornea transplant specialist.

The demonstration will occur in Loyola's Advanced Procedure Education Center (APEC), a state-of-the art facility that serves the surgical-skills training needs of students, residents, fellows and practicing physicians. APEC is part of the Center for Simulation Education at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine.

Provided by Loyola University Health System