Corneal graft detection for Descemet´s Stripping Automated Endothelial Keratoplasty using Optical Coherence Tomography

The cornea is the window of the eye and when it is severely damaged or diseased, vision is impaired. Descemet´s Stripping Automated Endothelial Keratoplasty (DSAEK) is a surgical procedure to replace the malfunctioned Descemet´s membrane with a healthy one in order to restore the patient´s sight. After the operation, ophthalmologists need to monitor the grafted membrane to check for signs of detachment, rejection, etc. and take appropriate actions before graft failure occurs. In this paper, we introduce the COrneaL GrAft Thickness Evaluation (COLGATE) System that we developed for ophthalmologists for the evaluation of the transplanted corneal graft. We discuss the various components in our system and methods we developed. Experiments are conducted and the results are m₁ = 7.5% and m₂ = 7.2%.