Corneal Transplantation

Amrita Hospital has been able to offer corneal transplantation to over 190 patients in a short span of time. Corneal transplantation or keratoplasty is the most successful organ transplantation known to medical science with success rates of 80-90 % in most cases.

• Automated Anterior Lamellar Keratoplasty
  For corneal stromal disease, only the anterior stroma can be replaced, the dissection done precisely with a microkeratome, as in LASIK – called automated anterior lamellar keratoplasty. This eliminates interface haze – the main problem with manual dissection. As the endothelium is not replaced there is almost no risk of rejection & need for long-term steroids.
• Endothelial replacement
  Descemet’s stripping endothelial keratoplasty, the popular form of corneal transplantation for endothelial pathology like pseudophakic bullous keratopathy and Fuch’s endothelial dystrophy can also be performed with ALTK system – Descemet’s stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty
  [ DSAEK ].
• Therapeutic Keratoplasty 
  Therapeutic Keratoplasty can save the eye and can restore vision in a lot of them, if done appropriately and early enough.
  After corneal transplantation, multiple check-ups are required and steroid eye drops need to be used for at least a few months. Graft infection, graft rejection or rise in eye pressure are possible which needs immediate treatment. Eye pain, redness, watering, aversion to light or decrease in vision are warning signals which require immediate consultation with a trained eye-specialist.
• Amrita Eye Bank
  At Amrita Eye Bank, the donor cornea is preserved in MK medium in which nutrition of the cornea can be maintained for 4 days, making corneal transplantation a planned procedure. The state–of–the–art facilities at Amrita Eye Bank include specular microscopy and laminar flow hood.

Causes of Corneal Blindness

• Vitamin A deficiency during childhood often associated with measles
• Trauma
• Workplace injury
• Corneal scar following corneal infection
• Corneal oedema following cataract surgery.

The fact is that nearly 95% of this corneal blindness is avoidable.Keratoplasty is done with any of the following objectives

• Optical- to restore the vision
• Therapeutic- done on an emergency basis, primarily to cure the corneal infection resistant to medical treatment in order to save the eye
• Tectonic- to restore the shape of the eye

Lamellar keratoplasty or selective replacement of pathological corneal layer has revolutionized the scene of corneal transplantation resulting in early visual rehabilitation. And automation [use of a microkeratome for lamellar cut] has brought further precision and refinement to lamellar keratoplasty minimizing the interface haze.
Presently, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences is the only centre in Kerala to have automated lamellar keratoplasty system [ Amadeus ALTK] and is useful in both anterior lamellar and endothelial keratoplasty.

Phone: 9400998586
Email: [email protected]