NYU Langone Health ophthalmology faculty are presenting their latest research at this weekend’s American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) annual meeting and Cornea and Eye Banking Forum , held in New Orleans from October 9 to 12.
Among the topics presented:
Kathryn A. Colby, MD, PhD , the Elisabeth J. Cohen, MD, Professor of Ophthalmology and chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, said, “Taken together, this year's presentations reflect the full range of our mission—advancing a therapy that can spare patients a transplant, refining the tools we use every day, and sharpening the diagnoses that save eyes and sometimes lives.”
Corneal Transplant-Sparing Clinical Trial: Ripasudil After Descemet Stripping Only for Fuchs Dystrophy
New results from the first multicenter, placebo-controlled randomized trial of a topical medication, Rho-associated protein kinase (ROCK) inhibitor, after Descemet stripping only (DSO) surgery show that the medication significantly accelerates healing of the cornea’s inner cell layer, reducing the need for a donor cornea. The paper on the findings, co-authored by Dr. Colby, who is also director of the NYU Langone Eye Center , appeared as an American Ophthalmological Society thesis in the American Journal of Ophthalmology. Dr. Colby will present on these findings as well the ongoing phase 3 trials on the treatment during the Cornea and Eye Banking Forum on October 9 at 1:44 p.m. CT.
Fuchs endothelial corneal dystrophy, a progressive genetic eye disease that affects 4 to 7 percent of people in the United States and accounts for roughly one-third of corneal transplants performed each year. DSO, a procedure Dr. Colby pioneered in the US, removes the diseased central cell layer and allows a patient’s own healthier peripheral cells to repopulate the cornea, avoiding the need for a transplant.
In the phase 2 Ripasudil (K-321-201) trial, 65 patients at 38 sites in five countries were randomly assigned to receive the topical medicine four times daily or twice daily, or a placebo, for 12 weeks after DSO. Patients receiving the medicine had a central endothelial cell density of 531 cells per square millimeter, compared with 228 in the placebo group. Corneal swelling cleared completely in 17 of 21 patients using Ripasudil, or 81 percent, compared with 2 of 22, or 9 percent, of those receiving the placebo. Two patients, or 10 percent, in the medicine group required a rescue corneal transplant, compared with six patients, or 27 percent, on placebo. More than 95 percent of participants completed the one-year study, and no patient stopped treatment because of a side effect.
“What matters most to patients is not a cell count. It is how quickly and how predictably their vision comes back, and whether they can avoid a transplant altogether,” said Dr. Colby. “This trial provides high-quality evidence that a simple eye drop can do exactly that after DSO.”
Instruction Course: Conquering Corneal Neovascularization
Mohammad H. Dastjerdi, MD , associate professor in the Department of Ophthalmology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, will serve as senior instructor for a course examining the treatment arsenal for corneal neovascularization, the abnormal growth of blood vessels into the normally clear cornea. The condition affects an estimated 1.4 million people worldwide each year and is unilateral in about 76 percent of cases. It is most often driven by infectious keratitis, trauma, contact lens complications, and other ocular surface disease. The course will be held during AAO on October 10 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. CT.
The course outlines a staged approach: Treat the underlying trigger first, then match therapy to vessel maturity. Newly formed, active vessels respond best to corticosteroids and anti-VEGF therapy such as bevacizumab, while mature, lipid-laden vessels—which can be fully encased in protective pericytes—typically require destructive approaches such as fine-needle diathermy or mitomycin intravascular chemoembolization (MICE).
Course faculty will also present pooled data from an international retrospective series of 100 eyes treated with MICE between 2021 and 2024 after medical therapy failed. Surgeons reported full or partial vessel regression in approximately 81 percent of eyes at six to 12 months, and masked image analysis showed a mean 56 percent reduction in vessel area over the same interval. Best-corrected vision improved significantly by six to 12 months. About 22 percent of eyes required repeat treatment, no infections occurred, and among 18 eyes that went on to corneal transplant, no rejections or graft failures were reported over at least one year.
“Corneal neovascularization is not one disease, and it should not be one treatment,” said Dr. Dastjerdi. “The depth, the caliber, and above all the age of the vessels tell you which tool to reach for, and combination therapy is often what finally breaks the cycle.”
Session: Beyond Xerophthalmia — Non-Xerotic Corneal Disease in Adult Vitamin A Deficiency
At the Cornea and Eye Banking Forum, Dr. Dastjerdi will present a retrospective case series detailing a form of vitamin A deficiency that can destroy the cornea without producing any of the classic outward signs clinicians are taught to look for. He reviewed 17 adults with laboratory-confirmed vitamin A deficiency who had corneal epithelial defects, ulceration, corneal melting, descemetocele, or perforation. None had conjunctival xerosis, Bitot’s spots, or clinically apparent corneal drying. Dr. Dastjerdi will present on these findings during the Cornea and Eye Banking Forum on October 9 at 4:15 p.m. CT.
The cohort included nine women and eight men. Nine patients, or 53 percent, presented with a descemetocele or frank corneal perforation, and every perforation occurred in a patient with a vitamin A level below 10 micrograms per deciliter. Eight patients, or 47 percent, required tectonic keratoplasty to preserve the eye, and one additional patient died before planned surgery. Three patients, or 18 percent, died of systemic disease complications before their eye disease could be stabilized. Blood test abnormalities among the patients included low levels of albumin, hemoglobin, magnesium, calcium and vitamin D.
“These patients did not look like the textbook picture of vitamin A deficiency, and that is precisely why the diagnosis is missed until the cornea has already melted,” said Dr. Dastjerdi. “When an adult has unexplained corneal breakdown or ulcer alongside low albumin, anemia, or low magnesium, that combination should prompt a serum vitamin A level.”
Symposium: Breakthroughs Toward Total Human Eye Transplant
Vaidehi S. Dedania, MD , associate professor in the Department of Ophthalmology at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, will participate in a symposium reviewing progress toward total human eye allotransplantation (THEA), a scientific vision that is at the forefront of transformative solutions for those suffering from irreversible blindness. Dr. Dedania was part of the team that completed the world’s first successful whole-eye and partial-face transplant in 2023.
While there are substantial challenges to THEA due to the complexity of orbital anatomy and the intricacies and sensitivities of the optic nerve and retinal structures, NYU Langone is part of a $56 million effort through the federal Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health’s Viability, Imaging, Surgical, Immunomodulation, Ocular Preservation and Neuroregeneration ( VISION ): Strategies for Whole Eye Transplant program. Dr. Dedania will join speakers for the VISION for THEA symposium to discuss innovations in medical devices, novel surgical methods combined with advances in biostasis and perfusion, the newest successes in promoting long-distance optic nerve regeneration, and improvements in immunomodulation to prevent rejection. The symposium will be held at AAO on October 11 from 2 to 3:15 p.m. CT.
About NYU Langone Health
NYU Langone Health is a fully integrated health system that consistently achieves the best patient outcomes through a rigorous focus on quality that has resulted in some of the lowest mortality rates in the nation. Vizient Inc. has ranked NYU Langone No. 1 out of 122 comprehensive academic medical centers across the nation five years in a row, and it continues to have the most No. 1– and top 10–ranked specialties among medical centers in the United States, according to U.S. News & World Report . NYU Langone offers a comprehensive range of medical services with one high standard of care across seven inpatient locations, its Perlmutter Cancer Center, and more than 400 outpatient locations in the New York City area and Florida. The system also includes two tuition-free medical schools, in Manhattan and on Long Island, and a vast research enterprise.