Abstract
Purpose: :
To compare corneal aberration measurements in patients that underwent Descemet-stripping-automated-endothelial-keratoplasty (DSAEK) or penetrating keratoplasty (PK) for endothelial dysfunction, and age-matched controls with normal corneas.
Methods: :
This retrospective, observational, case series study included 3 groups of subjects: 30 subjects with normal corneas (control group); 20 patients after penetrating keratoplasty (PK group); and, 23 patients after Descemet-stripping-automated-endothelial-keratoplasty (DSAEK group). Corneal diseases requiring keratoplasty were Fuchs dystrophy and pseudophakic bullous keratopathy. One eye per patient was evaluated. The corneal aberrations of the central 4- and 6-mm zones from the anterior (ACS) and posterior corneal surfaces (PCS) were assessed with the Scheimpflug rotating imaging system (Sirius, CSO, Firenze, Italy). The conversion of the corneal elevation profile into corneal wave-front data was done using the Zernike polynomials by means of the device software. Optical path difference (OPD); high-order aberrations (HOA); tilt; sphere; coma; trifoil; and tetrafoil were considered. Differences amongst groups of subjects were assessed using the Kruskal-Wallis and test; the least significant difference test was used for multiple comparisons. Statistical significance was defined as p<0.05.
Results: :
OPD, HOA, coma, trifoil and tetrafoil from the ACS were significantly lower in the control group, intermediate in the DSAEK groups, and higher in the PK group (p<0.001); those from the CPS appeared significantly higher in the DSAEK and PK groups than in controls (p<0.001). Tilt and sphere from the ACS were significantly higher in the PK group (p<0.001); those from the PCS were significantly higher in the DSAEK and PK groups (p<0.001).
Conclusions: :
Corneal aberrations from the anterior surface were significantly higher after PK compared to DSAEK; whereas, those of the posterior surface were comparable in the two groups.
Keywords: cornea: clinical science