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Course: Endothelial Cell Morphology Surrounding a Descemet Membrane Break

CME Credits: 1.00

Released: 2022-03-17

A 56-year-old woman presented with a chief complaint of blurred vision in her right eye. Her best-corrected visual acuity was counting fingers OD (with 7 diopters of irregular astigmatism noted on IOLMaster [Zeiss] biometry measurements and corneal topography analysis) and 20/25 OS. Endothelial cell density was 985.4 cells/mm2 at the center of the cornea and gradually decreased temporally. Slitlamp biomicroscopy revealed a large vertical split in the right cornea (, A). The Descemet membrane at the margin of the rupture was folded and assumed a scroll-shape configuration. Anterior segment optical coherence tomography revealed an irregular membranelike structure between 2 ruptured edges (, B). Regularly shaped endothelial cells were visible at the site of the ruptures whereas other cells with different shapes and sizes, suspected to be endothelial cells, were noted between the 2 ruptured edges under the confocal microscope (, B inset). One potential etiology for this patient’s presentation is forceps-related injury; however, the patient was unable to verify this history. No surgery was performed to allow for pathological examination of these structures on anterior segment optical coherence tomography. On 3-month follow-up visit, there were no changes in the patient’s visual acuity or examination findings.


Educational Objective
To identify the key insights or developments described in this article


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