Descemet membrane air-bubble separation in donor corneas

We describe a technique to obtain Descemet-endothelium disks from donors. To detach Descemet membrane, an air bubble was introduced in the deep stroma of human donor corneas mounted on an artificial chamber. In Group A (n = 5), the bubble was left inflated. In Group B (n = 4), the bubble was deflated immediately after the membrane was detached. In Group C (n = 7), the Descemet-endothelium disk was trephined and separated from the stroma after the bubble was deflated. All tissues were stored at 4°C. Descemet detachment was achieved in 89% of the tissues. After 48 hours, the mean endothelial loss was 83% ± 10% (SD), 15% ± 11%, and 3% ± 3% in the 3 groups, respectively. With this technique, Descemet-endothelium disks were obtained without significant alterations in the endothelial layer.