Abstract
Purpose :
To investigate an association between autoimmune disease and its effect on corneal graft survival and rejection after penetrating keratoplasty
Methods :
A retrospective review of patient records from October 1984 to September 2013 was completed. Data were obtained from two cohorts of patients with and without autoimmune disease. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used to compare graft survival. Differences in incidence of rejection was also evaluated and Cox multiple regression analyses were performed to determine associated risk factors.
Results :
130 eyes from patients without any autoimmune disease and 35 eyes from patients with an autoimmune disease were included in the study. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the 5-year graft survival was 81% in the non-autoimmune group and 51% in the autoimmune group (p=0.017 log-rank test). Multivariate analysis showed that factors increasing the risk of graft rejection included lens status, glaucoma diagnosis, and graft size. When these risk factors were accounted for, autoimmune status was not found to be an independent risk factor. There was also no statistically significant difference in the incidence rate of rejection between the autoimmune and non-autoimmune group.
Conclusions :
Patients with an autoimmune disease do not have a greater risk of graft failure or rejection after penetrating keratoplasty. Our study showed the only associated factors increasing the risk of graft failure are lens status, glaucoma, and graft size.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.