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Translating ocular immunology from the laboratory to the clinic ‐ keratoplasty ‐
Author(s) -
PLEYER U
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
acta ophthalmologica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.534
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1755-3768
pISSN - 1755-375X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1755-3768.2012.3641.x
Subject(s) - corneal transplantation , transplantation , medicine , graft rejection , intensive care medicine , ophthalmology , surgery
Keratoplasty has definitely its paradoxes. It has been the first successful transplantation in man and is with approx.100.000 grafts/year easily the most frequent allograft in human medicine. At the same time it is still the least understood form of transplantation in respect to its biology. It is both, the most successful as well as probably the most underestimated procedure regarding its risks in clinical transplantation. Indeed, the common assumtion, that corneal transplantation is a safe procedure with good prognosis may have hindered more intensive effort of research in this field. There are still limitations to corneal transplantation, and allograft rejection still poses the greatest challenge. In the last two decades, graft survival has been greatly improved by the introduction of efficient immunosuppressive drugs. This lecture aims to highlight the most novel and successful strategies to achieve a better outcome of pkp and e.g. tolerance via induction of Tregs. In addition, the use of lamellar grafts (e.g. DMEC) has significantly changed our perception and will be discussed.