Fig 1.
Flow chart of study identification.
Table 1.
Study characterises and quality assessment.
Table 2.
Description of meta-analysis of outcomes between DMEK and DSEK.
Fig 2.
Forest plot comparing the postoperative best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) between DMEK and DSEK.
CI = confidence interval; SD = standard deviation; DMEK = Descemet’s membrane endothelial keratoplasty; DSEK = Descemet’s stripping endothelial keratoplasty. Random-effects model (standard DerSimonian-Laird) was used.
Fig 3.
Forest plot comparing the postoperative best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) between DMEK and DSEK at different follow-up period.
CI = confidence interval; SD = standard deviation; DMEK = Descemet’s membrane endothelial keratoplasty; DSEK = Descemet’s stripping endothelial keratoplasty. Random-effects model (standard DerSimonian-Laird) was used.
Fig 4.
Forest plot comparing the postoperative endothelial cell density (ECD) between the DMEK and DSEK procedures.
CI = confidence interval; SD = standard deviation; DMEK = Descemet’s membrane endothelial keratoplasty; DSEK = Descemet’s stripping endothelial keratoplasty. Random-effects model (standard DerSimonian-Laird) was used.
Fig 5.
Forest plot comparing the postoperative endothelial cell density (ECD) between DMEK and DSEK at different follow-up period.
CI = confidence interval; SD = standard deviation; DMEK = Descemet’s membrane endothelial keratoplasty; DSEK = Descemet’s stripping endothelial keratoplasty. Random-effects model (standard DerSimonian-Laird) was used.
Fig 6.
Forest plot comparing the graft detachment rate between DMEK and DSEK.
CI = confidence interval; SD = standard deviation; DMEK = Descemet’s membrane endothelial keratoplasty; DSEK = Descemet’s stripping endothelial keratoplasty. Random-effects model (standard DerSimonian-Laird) was used.
Fig 7.
Forest plot comparing the surgical complications between DMEK and DSEK.
CI = confidence interval; SD = standard deviation; DMEK = Descemet’s membrane endothelial keratoplasty; DSEK = Descemet’s stripping endothelial keratoplasty. Random-effects model (standard DerSimonian-Laird) was used.
Table 3.
Description of between-study heterogeneity*.
Fig 8.
Contour enhanced funnel plots assessing the potential impact of publication bias.
(A, B) No study need be filled or trimmed. (C) 3 studies were filled, but these 3 studies were located in the regions of statistical significance on funnel, indicating that plot asymmetry was not caused by publication bias. BCVA = best corrected visual acuity; ECD = endothelial cell density; MD = mean difference; OR = odds ratio; se = standard error.