Use of indocyanine green in deep lamellar endothelial keratoplasty

A new technique using indocyanine green (ICG) during deep lamellar endothelial keratoplasty (DLEK) to stain the corneal stroma of the donor disk facilitated surgical placement of the disk in the host corneal opening created to match the donor disk. Two female patients, aged 82 and 77 years, had ICG staining of the donor corneal disk during DLEK for pseudophakic bullous keratopathy and Fuchs' corneal dystrophy. By 24 hours postoperatively, no ICG was detected clinically by biomicroscopy of the sutureless (no corneal sutures) lamellar transplanted corneas. This is the first report of the use of ICG during DLEK and the first intrastromal use of ICG in the human cornea. The use of ICG facilitated the DLEK procedure and appears to be safe for intraoperative use in the cornea.