Abstract
Purpose: :
To evaluate the efficacy of Arcuate Keratotomies (AK) performed with femtosecond laser for the correction of high astigmatism after Penetrating Keratoplasty (PKP).
Methods: :
9 eyes of 9 patients, (7M, 2F; mean age: 44yrs +/- 15SD), with high astigmatism after successful PKP, were submitted to AK assisted by a 60 kHz femtosecond laser (IntraLase, AMO, Irvine, CA, USA). Mean preoperative topographic cylinder was 7.85D +/- 3.74SD; mean preoperative refractive error in (SE) spherical equivalent was -3.37D +/- 5.47SD; mean preoperative refractive cylinder was -4.19D +/- 6.89SD (range from -12D to +9D). Average preoperative K was 45.21D +/- 3.79SD. Mean preoperative UCVA was 0.11 +/- 0.07SD and mean preoperative BSCVA was 0.62 +/- 0.23SD.
Results: :
Three months postoperatively, mean topographic astigmatism was 3.84D +/- 2.73SD; mean refractive error in SE was -2.03D +/- 3.46SD; mean refractive cylinder was -2,44D +/- 3,26SD (Range: from -7D to +3D). That shows a surgical correction of 58% of the topographic cylinder and of 42% of the refractive cylinder. Average postoperative K was 45.84D +/- 4.45SD. Mean postoperative UCVA was 0.18 +/- 0.18SD and mean postoperative BSCVA was 0.70 +/- 0.21SD.
Conclusions: :
The reduction of more than 50% of the preoperative topographical astigmatism shows the effectiveness of femtosecond laser assisted AK to correct astigmatic errors after successful Penetrating Keratoplasty.
Keywords: refractive surgery: other technologies • astigmatism • laser