First Author: W.Abou Samra EGYPT
Co Author(s):
Purpose:
To analyze factors related to the internationally imported donor tissue that may influence the surgical success and graft survival following primary penetrating keratoplasty (PKP) in patients with keratoconus.
Setting:
: Mansoura Ophthalmic Center, Mansoura University, Egypt.
Methods:
A retrospective non-comparative case series was performed on 63 patients who underwent PKP for keratoconus at Mansoura ophthalmic center, Mansoura University between October 2011 and December 2012. Donor corneas were imported for all studied patients from different eye banks in the United States. The relationships of the surgical success rate with bank name, donor age, sex, race, cause of death, death to enucleation time, death to surgery time, and endothelial cell density (ECD) were analyzed. Visual outcome, graft survival and ECD of clear grafts were analyzed 1 year after surgery. Causes of graft failure were also recorded.
Results:
The overall surgical success rate was 95.2% and did not correlate with any of the tested donor factors. 1 year after surgery, 60 grafts remained clear and only 3 graft failures were encountered due to trauma in two cases and active inflammation in one case. Mean preoperative (best corrected) and postoperative visual acuity were 0.05 and 0.3 respectively (decimal measurement) at the latest follow-up, with 62% of eyes being corrected with spectacles. The ECD had decreased by an average of 22% in the clear grafts.
Conclusions:
In our patient population, excellent graft survival was achieved utilizing internationally acquired donor tissue for eyes with keratoconus, with good post operative visual outcome implying an overall functional gain for the patient. Graft failure could not be predicted from any donor tissue parameter. Despite ECD decreases by an average of 22% during the first year of PKP, grafts remain clear with stable visual function.
Financial Disclosure:
None
