Week 4

This week I followed an interesting case where a patient needed both a cornea transplant and glaucoma procedure. This case was particularly interesting in that the patient had been previously seen by Cornell surgeons and given a series of recommended procedures. The patient decided not to take the advice of the surgeons and headed to another eastern European country for treatment. Unfrotunately for the patient, the procedures did not go well and the eye ended up worse off then it started. The patient returned back to Cornell and underwent a new series of recommened procedures. The patient had sustained damage to the retina, which offered the threat of complete vision loss. But to deal with the retinal problems the patient needed to be treated for a blinded cornea and misplaced glaucoma stent. The first treatment took care of the misplaced glaucoma stent by removal of the original stent tubing and then repositioning the tubing into a more posterior position of the eye. Following that procedure a cornea transplant procedure referred to as a DSEK procedure which involves the replacement of the cornea endothelium with a donor tissue. The procedure went well and the patient should have substantial improvement in vision, and more importantly the patient can now receive the necessary treatment on the retina.