Abstract
Purpose :
To determine the presenting complaints and presentation of patients at emergency unit that had Keratoplasty surgeries in the past and their outcome after management.
Methods :
Patients attending emergency unit of King Khalid Eye Specialist Hospital, Saudi Arabia between January and December 2013 were study population. Charts of patients with history of keratoplasty were reviewed for age, gender, indication for keratoplasty, initial and final best corrected Snellen visual acuities, presenting symptoms, ocular status, and diagnosis at presentation to emergency
Results :
One hundred and seventeen emergency visits of 124 post-keratoplasty patients were identified. Their mean age was 27.5 years and 63.7% were males. The most common indication for keratoplasty was keratoconus (75.8%). The presenting symptoms were pain (38.3%) and redness (34.9%). The mean interval between keratoplasty and emergency visit was 11 ±1.6 months. The diagnosis was graft rejection in 16 (13%) and wound dehiscence (11.3%). Sixty three (51 %) visits were related to sutures. In 12(9.7 %) patients, microbial Keratitis was noted. The final visual outcome after trauma management was 20/20 to 20/40 in 58 (46.8%), 20/50 to 20/200 in 41 (33.1%) of patients
Conclusions :
Preoperative counselling for penetrating keratoplasty should include awareness of symptoms and signs of possible postoperative complications and consequences of delayed medical treatment. Early recognition and intervention of any sight threatening complications increases the chance of graft survival and improvement of vision
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2017 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Baltimore, MD, May 7-11, 2017.