[Visual outcomes after Descemet's membrane endothelial keratoplasty].

OBJECTIVES: Evaluation and monitoring at 6 months after Descemet's membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK) in patients with Fuchs endothelial dystrophy and study of factors influencing visual rehabilitation and postoperative quality of life.

METHODS: Prospective, consecutive, interventional study of 35 eyes of 32 patients with Fuchs endothelial dystrophy who underwent surgery from February 2015 to February 2016 by DMEK. Measurement at D10, M1, M3, M6 of visual acuity, graft endothelial cell density, pachymetry, and intraocular pressure, and performance at M6 of aberrometry, macular OCT and a quality of life survey (NEI-VFQ-25). Post-DMEK aberrations are compared to those from control patients selected for refractive surgery.

RESULTS: Visual acuity improvement at 6 months was statistically significant (P<0.0001), as well as pachymetry decrease (P<0.0001), endothelial cell loss (P<0.0001) and intraocular pressure increase (P=0.003). We observed a statistically significant difference between post-DMEK aberrations and those of control subjects for all aberrations from 2nd to 5th order. There were no postoperative correlations between visual acuity, pachymetry, intraocular pressure, or endothelial cell loss. The global quality of life score at six months was 87, corresponding to a good quality of life. We did not find a link between the global NEI-VFQ-25 score and visual acuity or visual aberrations. Ninety percent of patients surveyed reported a postoperative general improvement in quality of life at M6.

CONCLUSION: DMEK provides good visual rehabilitation and an improvement in quality of life for patients with Fuchs endothelial dystrophy. Higher order optical aberrations in these patients, although higher than in a healthy population, are negligible and have no impact on quality of vision or postoperative quality of life.