J Korean Ophthalmol Soc.  1987 Oct;28(5):947-956.

Corneal Endothelial Changes After Radial Keratotomy and Deep Lamellar Keratoplasty in Rabbit

• Park SC
• Kim JH

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine the effects of radial keratotomy (RK) and deep lamellar keratoplasty(DLKP) on the corneal endothelium and to disclose the difference in endothelial cellular changes induced by these two operative procedures. The subjects consisting of 24 adult rabbits were equally divided into two groups ,of RK and DLKP. The operations were performed only on the left eyes and the unoperated right eyes were used as controls in scanning electron microscopic study. In RK, the knife blade was set at the depth of 90% of the corneal thickness and, in DLKP, the same depth was also reached. The endothelial cell density was measured under specular microscope and the morphology was observed through scanning electron microscope. The cellular changes were evaluated immediately, 1 day, 10 days and 30 days after operation. The results were as follows: 1. The loss of endothelial cells 1 day after operation was 5.5% in RK group and 7.4% in DLKP group, showing more marked damage in DLKP group than in RK group. However, the losses in 10 and 30 days showed no significant difference between these two groups. 2. In the scanning electron microscopic study, DLKP group showed more pronounced cellular swelling than RK group in 1 day. However, the difference was only minimal 10 and 30 days after operation. 3. In view of the above findings, DLKP seems to cause more damage on corneal endothelial cells than RK, althongh rabbit endothelial cells, unlike human cells, are known to regenerate.

MeSH Terms

Adult
Corneal Transplantation*
Endothelial Cells
Endothelium, Corneal
Humans
Keratotomy, Radial*
Rabbits
Surgical Procedures, Operative