Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Jan 30:2022:1315299.
doi: 10.1155/2022/1315299. eCollection 2022.

Corneal Endothelial Cell Loss in Glaucoma and Glaucoma Surgery and the Utility of Management with Descemet Membrane Endothelial Keratoplasty (DMEK)

Neeru A Vallabh  1   2 , Stephnie Kennedy  2 , Riccardo Vinciguerra  1 , Keri McLean  1   2 , Hannah Levis  2 , Davide Borroni  1   2   3 , Vito Romano  1   2 , Colin E Willoughby  4
Affiliations
Review

Corneal Endothelial Cell Loss in Glaucoma and Glaucoma Surgery and the Utility of Management with Descemet Membrane Endothelial Keratoplasty (DMEK)

Neeru A Vallabh et al. J Ophthalmol. .

Abstract

The corneal endothelium has a crucial role in maintaining a clear and healthy cornea. Corneal endothelial cell loss occurs naturally with age; however, a diagnosis of glaucoma and surgical intervention for glaucoma can exacerbate a decline in cell number and impairment in morphology. In glaucoma, the mechanisms for this are not well understood and this accelerated cell loss can result in corneal decompensation. Given the high prevalence of glaucoma worldwide, this review aims to explore the abnormalities observed in the corneal endothelium in differing glaucoma phenotypes and glaucoma therapies (medical or surgical including with new generation microinvasive glaucoma surgeries). Descemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK) is increasingly being used to manage corneal endothelial failure for glaucoma patients and we aim to review the recent literature evaluating the use of this technique in this clinical scenario.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Confocal microscopy of corneal endothelial cells. (a) Normal endothelial cells with a regular hexagonal shape. (b) Fuchs endothelial corneal dystrophy shows a loss of defined hexagonal shape, increased cell size, and the formation of guttata (as labelled).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Foster P. J., Buhrmann R., Quigley H. a., Johnson G. J. Prevalence surveys. British Journal of Ophthalmology . 2002:238–243. doi: 10.1136/bjo.86.2.238. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Tham Y., Li X., Wong T. Y., Quigley H. A., Aung T., Ed F. Global prevalence of glaucoma and projections of glaucoma burden through 2040 A systematic review and meta-analysis. Ophthalmology . 2020;121(11):2081–2090. - PubMed
    1. Janson B. J., Alward W. L., Kwon Y. H., Bettis D. I., Fingert J. H., Provencher L. M. Glaucoma-associated corneal endothelial cell damage: a review. Survey of Ophthalmology . 2018;63(4):500–506. doi: 10.1016/j.survophthal.2017.11.002. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Edelhauser H. F. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science . 2006. The balance between corneal transparency and edema: the proctor lecture. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Zavala J., Ló Pez Jaime G., Barrientos C. R., Valdez-Garcia J. Corneal endothelium: developmental strategies for regeneration. Eye . 2013;27(January):579–588. doi: 10.1038/eye.2013.15. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources