title: Clinical evaluation of a new donor graft inserter for Descemet's stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To present clinical outcomes of Descemet's stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty (DSAEK) using a newly developed donor graft inserter, the Tan EndoGlide (AngioTech, Reading, PA/Network Medical Products, North Yorkshire, UK).
  
  
  METHODS
  Six eyes of six patients with bullous keratopathy were treated with DSAEK using the Tan EndoGlide. Intraoperative and postoperative complications, postoperative donor endothelial cell densities (ECDs), and best-corrected visual acuity were recorded.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Five cases had no difficulties during donor graft loading into the Tan EndoGlide; however, the donor graft was folded inside-out into the Tan EndoGlide in one case, resulting in severe endothelial cell loss. All patients achieved a visual acuity of 20/63 or better at 12 months, with four patients reaching better than 20/32. Excluding the case with the graft folded inside-out, postoperative ECDs were 2,041 cells/mm(2) (mean loss: 22.9%) at 6 months and 1,973 cells/mm(2) (mean loss: 24.6%) at 12 months.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this small preliminary series, the clinical outcome with the Tan EndoGlide was comparable to or better than that achieved with the conventional technique. Additional studies using a larger number of patients are required to fully evaluate the usefulness and potential advantages of this new donor graft inserter.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Kanazawa University Graduate School of Medical Science, Kanazawa, Japan.
authors.forename: Hideaki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yokogawa
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Kazuhisa
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sugiyama
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002452:Cell Count; D003316:Corneal Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D057111:Descemet Stripping Endothelial Keratoplasty / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004728:Endothelium, Corneal; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007431:Intraoperative Complications; D008297:Male; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014019:Tissue Donors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014792:Visual Acuity / Q000502:physiology