Closed-chamber pulling-injection system for donor graft insertion in endothelial keratoplasty
Accepted 19 November 2007.
I describe the closed-chamber pulling-injection (CCPI) technique to improve surgical control and safety of graft insertion into the anterior chamber during Descemet-stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty (DSAEK). In CCPI, the graft is rolled up (endothelium facing inward) in a closed transparent insertion device, allowing it to be drawn into a well-formed anterior chamber and unfolded smoothly. The technique has been used successfully to treat corneal decompensation in 72 consecutive cases. The results indicate that using the CCPI technique, both average and complicated cases can benefit from the numerous advantages provided by endothelial keratoplasty.
From the Department of Ophthalmology, University of Parma, Parma, Italy
Corresponding author: Claudio Macaluso, MD, Ophthalmology, University of Parma, Via Gramsci 14, I-43100 Parma, Italy.
The author has a proprietary interest as inventor of the closed-chamber pulling-injection system (international patent held by the University of Parma).
Presented in part at a meeting of the Italian Ophthalmological Society, Rome, Italy, May 2006, and at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, November 2006.
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