Abstract
Purpose :
The effectiveness of rho kinase (ROCK) inhibitors for the corneal endothelium has been established in fields such as regenerative medicine and has also been reported in cases of acute surgical trauma. We performed a retrospective observational study to investigate the effectiveness of ROCK inhibitors administered as an ophthalmic solution for chronic bullous keratopathy (BK).
Methods :
We included subjects who could continuously use ophthalmic solutions. Nine cases were of Fuchs endothelial dystrophy (FECD) with BK (15 eyes) and glaucoma. Five cases (eight eyes) developed BK following laser iridotomy(LI) for closed-angle glaucoma. The initial prescription was of 0.4% ripasudil, which is a ROCK inhibitor, twice a day. All patients were new to this drug. The subjects’ ages ranged from 41 to 92 years (mean: 71.96 years). Six were men and eight were women.
Results :
In the FECD group, the mean thinnest corneal thickness (TCT) was 580.1 μm before the start of the ophthalmic solution administration and 559.8 μm 14–60 days later, indicating a statistically significant improvement (P < 0.001, Kolmogorov-Smirnov(KS) test). The mean logMAR visual acuity was 0.32 before the start of the administration and 0.28 afterwards, indicating a statistically significant improvement (P <0.05, KS test). In the LI group, the mean TCT was 551.3 μm before the start of the administration and 534.9μm 14–60 days later, indicating a statistically significant improvement (P < 0.001, KS test). The mean logMAR visual acuity was 0.75 before the start of the administration and 0.72 after administration, indicating a tendency toward improvement but without statistical significance.
Conclusions :
ROCK inhibitors may be effective for chronic BK. It may be useful to administer them in the
waiting period before corneal endothelium transplantation.
This is a 2020 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.