Abstract
Purpose :
The treatment of vernal keratoconjunctivitis (VKC) has been shifted from the use of corticosteroids into cyclosporine and tacrolimus in recent years. Our purpose of this study is to report the withdrawal rate of topical and/or oral corticosteroids in VKC after topical treatment of immunosuppresants and subcutaneous triamcinolone acetonide eyelid (STAE) injection at Fukuoka University Hospital.
Methods :
This study involved 50 eyes of 25 VKC patients (19 males and 6 females). Their age ranged from 4 to 26 years old (average 10.6 years old). The withdrawal rate of topical and/or oral corticosteroids and the clinical scores of keratoconjunctive were evaluated at their first visit, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months after the initiation of the use of topical immunosuppressants and STAE injection.
Results :
The clinical scores of keratoconjunctive was 9.5±0.5 (average ± standard deviation) at their first visit, 5.4±0.4 at 1 month, 3.8±0.4 at 3 months, 3.3±0.8 at 6 months, and 3.3±0.8 at 12 months. The withdrawal rate of corticosteroid was 64.0% at 1 month, 70.0％ at 3 months, 74.0％ at 6 months, and 80.0％ at 12 months after the initiation of the treatment, respectively. Fourty-five eyes was started using topical tacrolimus at first visit. After 12 months, the rate of use of tacrolimus was 85.4%.
Conclusions :
The treatment of topical corticosteroids could be reduced or stopped the use of topical immunosuppressants in VKC and STAE injection for VKC had the additional effect. These local treatments seemed to be useful in symptomatic improvement and long-term clinical resolution.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.