One cornea for two patients: case report.

Case reporting the use of one donor cornea for two transplantation procedures: deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK) in a case of an imminent corneal perforation caused by herpetic stromal necrosis, and Descemet stripping with endothelial keratoplasty (DSEK) in an eye with pseudophakic bullous keratopathy (PBK). Descemet's membrane (DM), denuded by stromal necrosis, served as the starting point for dissection plane and creation of the recipient bed for DALK. The next steps were excision of the diseased stroma along the edge of trephination, and transplantation of a 400-450 microm thick, manually dissected lamellar graft. The remaining posterior layers of the donor cornea, 100-150 microm thick, were used as a graft in the DSEK procedure for PBK. The integrity of the globe was saved, and best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) of 20/40 was reached after DALK in the eye with an imminent corneal perforation. A subnormal central corneal thickness (CCT) of 430 microm did not interfere with corneal shape (43.50 x 45.50 D) and function. The graft remained attached and clear after DSEK in the eye with PBK, with BCVA of 20/30 and a CCT of 653 microm. One donor cornea can be used for two lamellar keratoplasties, DALK and DSEK. Although the described obstacles may prevent this approach from becoming widely used, it may prove useful when one is confronted with a need for an urgent anterior lamellar keratoplasty, a long list of cases for DSEK, and a shortage of donor corneas.