Abstract :
Background: Collagen crosslinking (CXL), used as a treatment modality in infectious keratitis, can be further studied for the prevention of recurrent infection in cases undergoing therapeutic penetrating keratoplasty (TPK).
Purpose: To study the role of collagen crosslinking of the donor corneal tissue and the graft host junction during TPK in preventing recurrence of infection.
Materials and Methods: This was a prospective, clinical, interventional pilot case study done from May 2017 to July 2018. Fifteen cases and 15 controls who had infectious keratitis and needed TPK were included. Pediatric patients, one eyed patients, perforated ulcers and those with any other significant comorbidity were excluded. In patients who were enrolled as cases, the donor corneal graft and the graft host junction were subjected to CXL using modified Dresden protocol just after the TPK. TPK was done as per standard protocol. The patients were followed up for at least four months duration and the recurrences in both the groups were recorded.
Statistics: The Odds Ratio of the cases not developing a recurrent infection vis-a-vis the controls has been calculated along with the Confidence Interval using the SPSS Statistics software.
Results: Recurrence of infection was found in one case and in four controls within one month of TPK.
Conclusions: CXL done on donor corneal tissue and the graft host junction intra operatively, has a role in reducing recurrence of infection after TPK.
Keyword :
Collagen crosslinking, Donor corneal button, Graft-host junction, Infectious keratitis, Therapeutic penetrating keratoplasty.