EU Cornea 2026: Presentation of the new DMEK “Punch-Rescue” technique.

The new “Punch-Rescue” technique:

This new technique will be presented by Dr. Arthur Hammer at the annual conference. EU Cornea in Porto (Portugal).

To find out more, join us in Porto on 22.05.2026 for the session “Free Paper Session 1: Endothelial Keratoplasty”.

Although the peripheral tear of the donor Descemet's membrane is a universal risk when preparing a fine lamellar endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK), this risk is much more pronounced with tissue from donors with diabetes or who have undergone prior surgery (such as cataract surgery) with corneal incisions. These tears often require an immediate conversion to thick lamellar endothelial keratoplasty (DSAEK) or result in total graft loss.

The new surgical technique developed by Dr. Arthur Hammer to circumvent this problem thus allows:

• Mitigating a universal risk: It provides a safety net for all types of donor tissue, in particular transplants that are fragile or at high risk of tearing.
• A reduction in health costs: This simple and reproducible method uses low-cost sterile equipment, available in the majority of operating theatres. By avoiding the waste of grafts and precious resources, it limits the additional costs for health systems already under pressure and optimizes the medico-economic efficiency of descemetic lamellar endothelial cornea transplant (DMEK).
• An expansion of the donor pool: It allows the safe use of fabrics that would otherwise be considered unsuitable for DMEK.
• An improvement in results: By minimizing tissue loss and reducing the need for surgical conversion, it allows more patients to benefit from the excellent visual results of DMEK.
• Optimization of the operating flow: By increasing the success rate of peeling the Descemet's membrane from the graft, this new technique reduces the back-and-forth between graft preparation and that of the recipient patient's cornea, thus improving fluidity in the operating room.