Heidelberg 18.06.2024. Five years ago, on 18th June 2019, I performed the first human implantation of the EndoArt® artificial DMEK-Implant (made by EyeYon Medical) at our Heidelberg University Eye Clinic. Based on a recent examination, I am pleased to say that the patient and the Implant are doing fine five years on.
In 2019, the patient was a 58-year-old woman who had gone through cataract surgery followed by endophthalmitis, ppVE, corneal endothelial decompensation, optic atrophy, failed conventional DMEK with an extremely painful endstage bullous keratopathy. Her Central Corneal Thickness was 730 microns; her Visual Acuity was only Hand Movement.
After EndoArt Implantation, the cornea cleared up, the CCT went to 500 microns, and the pain disappeared.
We will continue to monitor this patient, but I find it remarkable that, five years later, her eye is so stable, and in these years, the Implant has not changed. No undesirable effect has occurred on the Implant’s material.
We published our report on EdoArt in 2021 in CORNEA.
Auffarth GU, Son HS, Koch M, Weindler J, Merz P, Daphna O, Marcovich AL, Augustin VA. Implantation of an Artificial Endothelial Layer for Treatment of Chronic Corneal Edema. Cornea. 2021 Dec 1;40(12):1633-1638. doi: 10.1097/ICO.0000000000002806. PMID: 34294634; PMCID: PMC8963521.
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