In Vivo Characteristics of Corneal Endothelium/Descemet Membrane Complex for the Diagnosis of Corneal Graft Rejection

Mohamed Abou Shousha, Sonia H. Yoo, Mohamed S. Sayed, Sean Edelstein, Matthew Council, Ravi S. Shah, Joshua Abernathy, Zachary Schmitz, Patrick Stuart, Rocio Bentivegna, Maria P. Fernandez, Christopher Smith, Xiaotang Yin, George J. Harocopos, Sander R. Dubovy, William J. Feuer, Jianhua Wang, Victor L. Perez

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

24 Scopus citations

Abstract

Purpose To evaluate the utility of endothelial/Descemet membrane complex (En/DM) characteristics in diagnosing corneal graft rejection. Design Diagnostic reliability study. Methods One hundred thirty-nine eyes (96 corneal grafts post penetrating keratoplasty or Descemet stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty: 40 clear, 23 actively rejecting, 24 rejected, and 9 nonimmunologic failed grafts; along with 43 age-matched control eyes) were imaged using high-definition optical coherence tomography. Images were used to describe En/DM and measure central corneal thickness (CCT) and central En/DM thickness (DMT). En/DM rejection index (DRI) was computed to detect the relative En/DM thickening to the entire cornea. Results In actively rejecting grafts, DMT and DRI were significantly greater than controls and clear grafts (28, 17, and 17 μm and 1.5, 1 and 1, respectively; P < .001). Rejected grafts had the highest DMT and DRI compared to all groups (59 μm and 2.1; P < .001). DMT and DRI showed excellent accuracy, significantly better than that of CCT, in differentiating actively rejecting from clear grafts (100% and 96% sensitivity; 92.5% and 92.5% specificity), actively rejecting from rejected grafts (88% and 83% sensitivity; 91% and 83% specificity), and nonimmunologic failed from rejected grafts (100% and 100% sensitivity; 88% and 100% specificity). DMT correlated significantly with rejection severity (P < .001). Conclusions In corneal grafts, in vivo relative thickening of the En/DM is diagnostic of graft rejection as measured by DMT and DRI. These indices have excellent accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity in detecting graft immunologic status, superior to CCT. DMT is a quantitative index that correlates accurately with the severity of rejection.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)27-37
Number of pages11
JournalAmerican journal of ophthalmology
Volume178
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 1 2017

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'In Vivo Characteristics of Corneal Endothelium/Descemet Membrane Complex for the Diagnosis of Corneal Graft Rejection'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this