laminar transplant???????????

[eman samir]

hello every one.i wanna know ...if any of you has heard about laminar transplant???????? i heard that its chance of rejection is zero......but i can't believe that.

[GarethB]

Hi Eman,

It is often refferd to in the UK as Deep Anterior Lamella Keratoplasty (DALK) where the rejection is considerd practically zero. This is because only the top two layers of the cornea are being transplanted. It also means that if your KC is near to the edge of the corneal margin, a transpalnt can till be carried out.

When just the Penetrating Keratoplasty (PK) (all layers of the cornea are transplanted)) it could only be done in the more central aresa of the cornea where the risk of rejection was low. The further this came to the corneal margin, so the risk of rejection increased.

The inititial recovery from a DALK is supposed to be quicker thank PK but the improvements in vision I have been heard as taking longer but the overall benefits just the same.

Regards

Gareth

[Andrew MacLean]

Eman

I had a lamellar graft (DALK) in my left eye, after having a PK in my right eye. The DALK seems to carry very little risk of rejection, and this can be reduced virtually to zero.

The reason the problem of rejection is removed is that the tissue most likely to be reguected by the eye is the inside membrane of the grated cornea. The DALK leaves the recipient's own inside membrane in place, and grafts onto that the stroma of the donated cornea.

It can take longer to revover good vision after a DALK, but with the risk of rejection reduced virtually to zero, this seems a worth while trade to make.

all the best

Andrew