Posters

Corneal stromal demarcation line depth following standard and a modified-very high intensity corneal cross-linking protocol

Poster Details

First Author: K.Tsoulnaras GREECE

Co Author(s):    D. Liakopoulos   M. Grentzelos   C. Skatharoudi   N. Tsakalis   G. Kymionis  

Abstract Details

Purpose:

To compare the corneal stromal demarcation line depth using anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT) after corneal cross-linking (CXL) using two different treatment protocols: the standard Dresden protocol (30 minutes with 3 mW/cm2) and a modified very high intensity protocol (7 minutes with 18 mW/cm2).

Setting:

Vardinoyiannion Eye Institute of Crete (VEIC), Faculty of Medicine, University of Crete, Heraklion, Crete, Greece

Methods:

In this prospective comparative study were enrolled 29 keratoconic patients (32 eyes). All patients underwent CXL using the same high-intensity ultraviolet-A (UV-A) irradiation device (CCL-365, Peschke Meditrade GmbH, Huenenberg, Switzerland). 16 eyes were treated for 30 minutes with 3 mW/cm2 according to the standard Dresden protocol (Group 1), while 16 eyes were treated with a novel modified-very high intensity CXL protocol for 7 minutes with 18 mW/cm2 of UV-A irradiation intensity (Group 2). One month postoperatively, corneal stromal demarcation line depth was measured by two independent observers using AS-OCT.

Results:

Corneal stromal demarcation line depth was assessed with no significant difference between observer measurements for both groups (P = .645 Group 1; P = .715 Group 2). Mean corneal stromal demarcation line depth was 341.81 ± 47.02 μm for Group 1 and 313.37 ± 48.85 μm for Group 2. There was no statistically significant difference (P = 0.104) in the corneal stromal demarcation line depth between the two groups. Mean ECD did not change significantly in any group (P = .090 Group 1; P = .103 Group 2). No intraoperative or postoperative complications were noted.

Conclusions:

Corneal stromal demarcation line depth using UV-A with 3 mW/cm2 for 30 minutes and 18 mW/cm2 for 7 minutes was similar. It seems that the current modified-accelerated CXL protocol provided the same treatment depth as the standard Dresden protocol. FINANCIAL DISCLOUSRE: NONE