A Case of Transparent Cornea Maintained after Removal of Dislocated Graft from Descemet's Stripping Automated Endothelial Keratoplasty.

Introduction: Corneal graft detachment is a major postoperative complication of Descemet's stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty (DSAEK). When a corneal graft becomes detached, corneal endothelial function generally fails, and repeat corneal transplantation is required. Herein, we report a rare case in which a transparent cornea was maintained after the removal of a dislocated DSAEK graft.

Case presentation: A 79-year-old woman with a residual lens cortex who had undergone cataract surgery was referred to our hospital. The cortex was removed, and bullous keratopathy progressed. Six months after the initial surgery, DSAEK was performed under topical anesthesia without any complications. Although the corneal graft had attached fairly well, it detached from the host cornea 3 weeks later. Two months after DSAEK, an air tamponade was used to treat the anterior chamber with single interrupted suturing; however, the graft detached again, except for the suture site. Because the detached cornea became cloudy in the anterior chamber, it was surgically removed 8 months after DSAEK. Accordingly, the host cornea transparency improved to a best-corrected visual acuity of 0.8 with a rigid gas permeable lens and a central corneal thickness of 580 μm. The corneal endothelial cell density was 995 cells/mm².

Conclusion: Removal of the corneal graft from the dislocated cloudy graft improved the visual acuity of this patient after DSAEK. The condition of the cornea should be carefully monitored after corneal endothelial transplantation, even after the graft has been dislocated.