Queratoplastia lamelar anterior profunda.experiencia en el Hospital Universitario de Canarias

Abstract

Purpose: To report the clinical outcome after 6-month-follow-up of deep anterior lamellar keratoplasty (DALK) in the last five years in the Canary Universitary Hospital. Methods: In the last five years 115 keratoplasties were performed in our hospital, 11 of them were DALK and were operated using the Big Bubble technique. 8 patients have currently finished their follow-up period, one patient suffered an intraoperatory macroperforation and had to undergo a penetrating keratoplasty some days later. Clinical outcome parameters included best-corrected visual acuity, astigmatic error and number of intra- and postoperative complications Results: Four (50%) patients reached 0.8 as best corrected visual acuity, one patient (12.5%) reached 0.7 (12.5%), one patient (12.5%) reached 0.6 and two patients reached 0.4. One patient of the last group had an amblyopic eye. Two patients suffered an allograft rejection; during the surgery one patient had a self-sealing microperforarion; one patient had a macroperforation that required a penetrating keratoplasty some days later; finally one patient suffered a Descemet membrane detachment that was resolved with an air injection in the anterior chamber. Conclusions: DALK may be a feasible and relatively safe technique for the treatment of relatively complicated anterior corneal pathology. DALK offers good clinical outcomes, similar to the ones reported by other authors. Postoperative complications may be easily treated.