Título

LONG-TERM COMPARATIVE STUDY OF KERATOCONUS PATIENTS TREATMENT WITH CXL VERSUS CXL FOLLOWING INTRASTROMAL CORNEAL RING SEGMENTS.

Objetivo

To evaluate keratoconus patients after treatment with crosslinking (CXL) only versus CXL following intrastromal corneal ring segment(CXL-ISR) placement

Método

Restrospective study in which 96 keratoconus eyes were included, 49 performed CXL and 47 CXL-ISR. Demographic data, corneal topographic values (k1, k2, axis and pachymetry) and visual acuity (logmar) data were collected from patient history files for baseline (T0), and 3(T3), 6(T6), 12(T12), 18(T18) and 24(T24) months after CXL and CXL-ISR (Mediphacos, BH, Brazil) procedures.

Resultado

The two groups presented no differences in regard to patient age (Mann-Whitney, p=0.77) and gender (X2, p=0.548). Interval times between CXL and intrastromal ring placement ranged from 2 to 44 months (Median=4.5, Mean=5.9, SD=6.2). No differences were observed for horizontal cornea meridian (k1) values between groups in any time point. However, vertically cornea meridian (k2) measurements were higher for CXL following instrastromal ring implantation patients at T0(Mann-Whitney, p=0.01) and T6(Mann-Whitney, p=0.03). Axis values were also higher for CXL plus ring patients at T0(Mann-Whitney, p=0.003) and T3(Mann-Whitney, p=0.04). Best corrected visual acuity was worse for CXL plus ring patients at T12 (Mann-Whitney, p=0.01).

Conclusão

Our study shows good reproductivity, safety and efficacy for both surgical procedures and promising alternatives for patients with keratoconus.