Dr Kohsaku Numa

A small-scale Japanese study focusing on cell injection therapy to treat pseudophakic endothelial failure has reported the restoration of normal function in 91% of eyes, five years postoperatively.  

Led by Dr Kohsaku Numa from the Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, the study injected the anterior chambers of 11 eyes with cultured human corneal endothelial cells (hCECs). The five-year follow-up showed normal corneal endothelial function was restored in 10 eyes, with significant improvement in best-corrected visual acuity and no adverse effects. 

This therapy could supplant current surgical treatments for corneal endothelial failure, which include penetrating keratoplasty, Descemet stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty (DSAEK) and Descemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK), all of which require a donor cornea, said researchers, especially as the technique enables the treatment of more than 300 diseased eyes from a single donor cornea.