Abstract
Purpose: :
To assess the relationship betwen objective and subjective outcome measures and pacient satisfaction before and after penetrating keratoplasty
Methods: :
Data were collected from 32 patients who underwent penetrating keratoplasty (PK) between October 2005 and October 2006. Demographic, ocular history, objective treatment outcome measures such as clarity of the graft and best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) of both eyes were collected prospectively. In addition to assessment of patient satisfaction, the survey provided information regarding subjective outcome measures, such as visual functioning and quality of life. Functional visual impairment and quality of life were obtained by an interview before the PK and after at least one year of postoperative.
Results: :
The average age of subjects was 42 ± 22 (mean ± SD) years and 68.75 % were women. On average, men were most satisfied. Corneal diseases were keratoconus (56.25%), bullous keratopathy or Fuchs’ dystrophy (37.5%), ectasia post radial keratotomy (3.13%) and graft failure (3.13%). BCVA was 0.07 ± 0.05 logMAR before and 0.45 ± 0.31 logMAR after PK showing a significant improvement on BCVA (P < 0.0001). VF-14 score was 49.11% ± 19.28% before and 71.98% ± 24.28% after PK showing a significant improvement after the PK (P < 0.0001). The most satisfied patients where those who had a better score on VF-14 (r = 0.60; P = 0.0002). Satisfaction seems to be correlated to improvement in BCVA at the transplanted eye (r = 0.3186; P = 0.0755).There was weak correlation between improvement in BCVA on the transplanted eye and improvement of VF-14 score (0.6338). Better improvement in VF-14 seems to happen in patients with worse BCVA in the other eye (P = 0.2998).
Conclusions: :
Penetrating keratoplasty has a positive effect on objective and subjective outcome measures. Patient satisfaction is better predicted by subjective outcomes. Improvement in quality of life maybe significant in patients with worse BCVA in the other eye but analysis of a larger number of patients is necessary to confirm that.
Keywords: transplantation • quality of life