Abstract
Purpose :
The aim of this study was to determine which factors influenced visual acuity (VA) stability between 2 and 5 years postoperatively in patients receiving: penetrating keratoplasty (PK) or deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK) for keratoconus (KC) and PK for Fuchs endothelial dystrophy (FED).
Methods :
This analysis included patients on the UK Transplant Registry who received a corneal transplant between January 2003 and December 2009. Only first transplants where the primary purpose was to improve vision were selected. KC and FED were analysed separately. Changes in VA between 2 and 5 years were defined as follows: improved VA, a gain of ≥2 Snellen lines; deterioration in VA, the loss of ≥2 Snellen lines; and for ‘no change’ the VA at 5 years was within ±1 Snellen line of the VA at 2 years. Logistic regression was used to model the probability of visual improvement or deterioration for a variety of factors. Initially a univariate analysis was under taken. A multivariate analysis determined which factors were significant in the model.
Results :
75% (n=651/868) of KC patients had no change in visual acuity from 2 to 5 years, 15% improved (n=133/868) and 10% (n=84/868) deteriorated. Similarly, 70% (n=395/568) of FED patients had no change, 18% (n=105/568) improved and 12% (n=68/568) deteriorated. Consequently, 90% of patients for KC and 88% of patients for FED maintained or had improved vision between 2 and 5 years. The results showed that best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) at 2 years was a strong predictor of the final visual outcome at 5 years after transplantation for KC and FED. The presence of glaucoma had a negative impact on BCVA stability between 2 and 5 years in the FED group.
Conclusions :
The great majority of KC (90%) and FED (88%) patients showed either no change or improved VA between 2 and 5 years after transplantation.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.