Late Spontaneous Reabsorption of Interface Fluid after Descemet’s Stripping Automated Endothelial Keratoplasty Surgery

Abstract

An 80-year-old male was referred to our hospital for chronic bullous keratopathy in the right eye. Ten years before, he was affected by an attack of primary acute angle closure glaucoma in high hyperopia and Fuchs’ endothelial dystrophy. A bilateral iridotomy was performed. Thereafter, the patient developed an endothelial decompensation in the left eye, and, in another hospital, he underwent an open-sky combined cataract extraction and penetrating keratoplasty. Our surgical approach for the right eye consisted of phacoemulsification and, after 1 month, a Descemet’s stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty (DSAEK). After the procedure, an interface fluid was suspected, and an anterior segment optical coherence tomography (OCT) confirmed it. The graft was well centered but thickened, showing no movement in the anterior chamber, adherent to the periphery of the recipient cornea but with a pool of fluid in the center. Seven days postoperatively, an anterior segment OCT showed initial signs of reabsorption of the fluid. On day 45, the graft was adherent with normal thickness and the interface fluid had completely disappeared. The corneal stroma was clear, but a faint interface opacity appeared and is still present. We obtained a good surgical result and best corrected visual acuity was 7/10 at postoperative month 4. No further surgical procedures are scheduled.