ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Pediatr.
Sec. Pediatric Surgery
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fped.2025.1614963
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvances and Challenges in Neonatal Surgery: Congenital and Acquired ConditionsView all 25 articles
Outcomes of Descemet Stripping Automated Endothelial Keratoplasty for Pediatric Descemet Membrane Detachment with diffuse corneal edema
Provisionally accepted
- Department of Ophthalmology, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing, China
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Purpose: To report Descemet stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty (DSAEK) outcomes for pediatric Descemet membrane detachment (DMD) with diffuse corneal edema. Methods: This study included seven cases of pediatric DMD presented at Peking University Third Hospital during October 2017 and April 2022. The collected data included patient demographics, etiology, configuration of the DMD, preoperative and postoperative vision and central corneal pachymetry, surgical outcomes, and complications. Results: The mean age of the children was 3.27±4.73 (range: 0.33-13) years old. Etiologies included cataract surgeries, glaucoma surgeries, and forceps-related injuries. In all cases, the central areas of the corneas were involved. Three patients had received Descemetopexy at first but failed. DSAEK was successfully performed in all eyes. Compared to the preoperative visual acuity (LogMAR 2.57±0.23), postoperative visual acuity (LogMAR 0.78±0.25) was significantly improved (P<0.01). Postoperative central corneal pachymetry measured within a month after DSAEK (850±163μm) showed satisfactory improvement when compared to the preoperative one (1304±234μm, P=0.005). Early postoperative complications included graft dislocation in one case and was successfully managed with air bubbling. Conclusion: Pediatric DMD might suffer a lower success rate of Descemetopexy due to the anatomical peculiarity. Reconstructing visual
Keywords: Descemet stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty, Endothelial keratoplasty, Pediatric keratoplasty, Descemet membrane Detachment, forceps-related birth injury
Received: 20 Apr 2025; Accepted: 18 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Ben, Xiao, Zhang, Peng, Xie and Hong. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Jing Hong, Department of Ophthalmology, Peking University Third Hospital, Beijing, China
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