Corneal transplantation is the most successful organ transplantation in medicine and performed on patients with endothelial dysfunction. In a surgery procedure called DMEK (Descemet Membrane Endothelial Keratoplasty), the inner layer of the cornea, the Descemet's membrane, is replaced with a donor membrane. Routinely, lens injectors are used during this procedure to insert the donor membrane into the recipient´s eye precisely. However, the Descemet´s membrane adversely tends to wind itself up to form a single-axis winding. This behaviour is additionally promoted by unsuitable storage/transport containers for the graft. Therefore, the membrane must be uncoiled manually by the surgeon after insertion into the front chamber of the eye, partly with the aid of further instruments and/or by air bubble on the cornea.

Ophthalmologists at the University Hospital of Cologne have developed a DMEK injection device with a special design, which simplifies the release and unfolding of the membrane into the recipient´s eye during surgery. Therefore, the number of subsequent surgical steps and the likelihood of complications is reduced and consequently the success rate of this surgical method is increased.

A specially developed device allows the Descemet membrane to be prepared and transferred into an injection cartridge without contact. This procedure reduces the loss of the endothelial cells of the transplant (descement membrane with endothelium).