[Vital staining of the corneal endothelium--increased possibilities of diagnosis].

When the endothelium is examined with vital staining techniques, followed by endothelial cell mapping the cell distribution can be demonstrated over the entire corneal surface. To determine the normal cell distribution, 30 corneas were examined of 30 patients who were 19-90 years of age. In all cases an inhomogeneous cell distribution was found for different areas of the corneas. Usually, all corneas showed a region with maximal cell density in the corneal periphery. Three age-related distribution patterns were distinguished: (1) in younger patients (age 19-30 years, n = 5) a region of very high cell density in the corneal periphery was typical with the cell density decreasing towards the center of the cornea; (2) in the middle-age group (age 30-60 years, n = 10), the peripheral region of high cell density was narrower and there was fluctuation in the cell density towards the center of the cornea; in the elderly (age 60 years, n = 15), the cell density varied markedly in all areas. However, the area of highest cell density was still in the periphery.